Paying the Piper
by Plague's Vengeance
Summary: "Why do you act like that?" He asked without looking up from his work. She tilted her head slightly, an amused smile playing on her lips, "Like what?" He glanced at her before looking down again, "You know what I'm talking about." She laughed softly, "Treat me like an animal and I'll act like one. Treat me like a human and maybe, just maybe, I'll return the favor."(Bruce Banner/OC)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Okay, so I saw the Avengers for the first time the other day and it was AMAZING! Despite my rather intense dislike of Captain America, I absolutely adore Bruce Banner/The Hulk. He's one of my favorite Marvel superheroes besides Iron Man and the X-Men since I'm more of a DC girl. Anyhooties, after watching The Avengers I was assaulted by a bunch of plot bunnies and they won't leave me alone until I get them out of my system. So without further ado, here is the introductory chapter to my Bruce Banner/OC story, **_**Paying The Piper. **_**Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer for the **_**WHOLE**_** story: Don't own jack squat, except for the OC(s). This story is purely for my own entertainment, since I like writing outside my comfort zone sometimes. **

* * *

"Are you sure it is a good idea to be bring her in, sir?" Maria Hill asked cautiously as she followed Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. up the snow laden path.

"She would be a valuable asset to S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Hill." Fury stated, his deep voice firm as the snow crunched under his black boots.

Maria was about to reply but a deep, throaty growl cut her off and caused her and Director Fury to freeze in their tracks. They had reached the end of the path and were now standing at the end of short snow covered driveway that lead up to a small wooden cottage. Smoke curled from the brick chimney on the left side of the cottage but no lights seemed to be on at the moment. The growling was soon followed by a snarled bark. The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents looked towards the small porch where a huge rottweiler was crouched beside an even larger English mastiff.

The two massive dogs stared at the two frozen agents before the mastiff leapt off the porch and trotted around the cottage where the steady sound of something being cleaved apart was coming from. The rottweiler stared at the agents for another moment before trotting after the larger dog.

Both Director Fury and Agent Hill breathed nearly silent sighs of relief before the Director walked around the cottage as well with Agent Hill trailing behind him warily, her hand on her gun.

"Oh my God." The woman muttered in disgusted disbelief as she stopped beside Fury.

She had originally thought the metal on wood sounds was someone chopping wood but what she was seeing was so very far from that assumption. Standing with her back to them in nothing but a ratty tank top and ripped shorts was a woman of average height, a heavy meat cleaver in one hand while the other held a deer carcass steady on the wooden table.

At first glance the woman appears almost emaciated until closer inspection which revealed not just skin and bones but wiry, hard muscles coiled tighter than steel cables. The skin stretched tautly over the muscles was gray with a violet tint, the color of dusk. Silver-gray hair in a thick plait ended at the woman's mid-back, tinged a slight reddish-pink at the ends from the blood that was splattered liberally on her body.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Director Fury?" The woman's voice was harsh and growling with only a slight indication that it was feminine.

She brought the cleaver down roughly and Agent Hill clenched her jaw to keep from gagging as the deer's head lolled before being shoved off the wooden table by the mutant-looking woman. The head was dragged under the table a moment later by the two massive canines that had taken refuge there followed by the sound of growling and tearing.

Director Fury took a step forward, "The world is in grave danger, Miss Lennart."

A snort and the woman's head turned slightly, "The world is _**always**_ in danger, Director Fury. What does that have to do with me?"

"The Avengers Initiative." The tall man stated coolly, watching as the woman's head tilted faintly to the side, "Why don't we take this inside?"

The cleaver slammed into the wooden table then the woman turned around to face the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Her lips bloodstained lips stretched into a predatory smile, revealing straight, wickedly sharp teeth that were perfectly aligned.

"Are you sure that's wise, Director?" Her voice had become a dangerously soft purr as solid black eyes stared up at the tall man, "I might just forget that I've already had my fill of fresh meat today."

* * *

Piper Lennart clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and looked at Director Fury sitting across from her with Agent Hill beside him, speculatively. Her eyes were no longer solid black, having long since returned to their abnormal glowing, stoplight red and her skin had lost its tinge of violet, leaving it a dull silvery-gray.

The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and his Agent had explained the situation with the vaguest details. Fury skimmed over what had happened with the Tesseract and Loki at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters two nights ago, spending most of his breath on trying to get her to join him in his crusade to get the little cube of power back.

"You want me to help save the world from a supercharged god, is that it?" She drawled, her voice still the same rough growl with a slight feminine twang, and she leaned forward, "Did you damage some brain cells along with your eye, Director?"

Director Fury scowled at her, "I can assure you, Miss Lennart, that only the eye was damaged."

Piper leaned back in her seat, her wiry muscled arms crossed over her near flat chest, "Then you have lost your goddamn mind if you think I'm going to help you."

Fury stood, slamming the palm of his hands on the kitchen table which caused it to shake slightly, "Do you think this is a game, Lennart? We're talking a world national security risk if we don't get that cube back."

Piper cocked her head to the side slightly—a distinctively animal-like gesture—then stood slowly and placed her hands on the table, leaning forward until she was almost nose-to-nose with Fury.

"Did you forget, Director," She murmured, red eyes never wavering from his one brown eye, "That I have a criminal record longer than you are tall? What's stopping me from throwing my lot in with the bad guy?"

A muscle in Fury's cheek twitched slightly and he glared at her furious, "You won't."

"And why not?" She asked with an amused quirk to her blue-tinged lips.

Fury straightened and crossed his bulky arms over his chest, a smug look on his face, "Because you don't like being controlled, Lennart, and that is all this bastard is going to offer you."

"Are you not offering the same thing?"

"No," Fury stated with a slight shake of his head, "I'm offering you a chance to redeem yourself. To wipe your record clean, a brand new slate. All you have to do is help S.H.I.E.L.D. nail this bastard and get the cube back, and then you can disappear forever. You'll no longer be on the radar."

Piper pursed her lips and stared at him shrewdly, weighing the pros and cons. She was still leaning over the table, hands flat and long fingers spread out slightly—each slender digit ending in an inch long black talon. Fury noticed those talons flexing, lengthening then retracting like a cat's claws while the tips scored the wooden tabletop.

After what seemed like hours but was only roughly ten minutes, Piper's gaze refocused— becoming almost predatory—and a feral smile curved her lips.

"What about my dogs?"

Fury smirked and nodded at Agent Hill who had remained tense and quiet throughout the discussion. The woman stood, pulling a walkie talkie from her belt and speaking rapidly into it.

"They'll be taken care of, Miss Lennart. Pack quickly, we leave in fifteen."

* * *

**Author's Note: Alriiiight, here's the first chapter of my Bruce Banner/OC story, **_**Paying The Piper. **_**Now, I'd like to assure everyone now that Piper Lennart will NOT be a Mary-Sue as long as I have ANYTHING to say about it. To explain a bit about her, Piper is a feral mutant (like Sabertooth or Wolverine) with a few differences that will be explained throughout the story. Now, her personality is going to be A LOT like Victor Creed's (also known as Sabertooth) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This means, she's almost completely driven by pure animal instinct/bloodlust which incidentally is practically the complete opposite of our favorite giant green rage monster (at least when he's human). Piper is basically a feral bitch, with a rabid temper, almost no empathy/concern for human life and an overall nasty disposition. BUT there IS a reason for this and it will be as the story progresses. Now, I AM going to be taking some creative license with the whole Avengers movie plot line, just because I think it'll fit the story better. Now I hope everyone enjoys this story which should only be, maybe, about 30 chapters. It could be less or it could be more, I won't know until the end. So, yeah, enjoy my dears.**

**PS—If Piper does start to sound Mary-Sue, please, please TELL me so I can fix it because I would seriously rather eat my own foot (and I HATE feet) than write a story with a Mary-Sue in it.**

**Lots of Love,**

**Plague's Vengeance**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Second chapter of **_**Paying the Piper. **_**Doctor Banner makes a brief appearance at the end when Natasha retrieves him, but it's mostly Piper's perspective. Enjoy**

* * *

Piper hopped lithely out of the jet, not bothering to wait for the ramp to lower, and eagerly stretched her stiff muscles. She wasn't accustomed to being stuck in such close quarters and was only seconds away from leaping out of the damn aircraft when they had reached S.H.I.E.L.D.'s home base on a thing called a Helicarrier. Her spin cracked loudly and Piper's shoulders slumped ever so slightly, a pleased sigh escaping her blue-tinged lips as her muscles loosened and her joints popped.

"Eager, Miss Lennart?" Fury drawled as he walked down the ramp, Agent Hill trailing after him like a puppy.

The feral woman snorted and bared her teeth at the tall man in response, ignoring the way Agent Hill tensed and placed her hand on the gun strapped to her waist. Fury nodded at the tense woman and she relaxed her grip on the gun, crossing her arms over her chest instead.

"Agent Hill will show you to your quarters as well as the bridge." Fury directed as he walked back up the jet's ramp, "I have another recruit to talk to."

Piper didn't bother to wait for the female agent and started towards the edge of the Helicarrier, her curiosity getting the better of her. She crouched down, looking at the water that was lapping at the hull of the carrier, one talon-tipped hand gripping the edge while the other tapped a random beat on her naked thigh. Piper ran her tongue along her teeth then straightened, pivoting on her bare heel to face a tense Agent.

"Where am I sleeping?"

The dark haired woman's jaw clenched and held her arm out for the feral woman to walk in front of her, "This way."

'_Smart woman.' _Piper thought with a smirk as she walked ahead of Agent Hill, _'Never turn your back on a predator.'_

* * *

Piper looked around the sparse room and was reminded of an underground bunker she'd been locked in years ago. The only differences were the metal walls—the bunker had been concrete—and there was an actual bed, no matter how militant it looked. There was also a small nightstand and dresser but Piper ignored though and dropped her canvas knapsack on the bed, rummaging around for a moment then plucking a pair of black aviators that hid her bright red eyes and turned to face Agent Hill, who was hovering in the doorway.

"Bridge?"

Agent Hill backed away from the door and Piper stepped out, smiling predatorily at the other woman and obviously finding great amusement when the Agent Hill took a step back, hand back on the gun at her waist.

As they walked, Piper dragged one hand along the metal wall of the hallway, her talons making a light scratching sound. Other than that it was silent, they didn't even pass any other agents as they walked. It was only a few minutes later that they came onto the bridge and Piper would admit that she was mildly impressed. Men and women dressed in either tight, blue jumpsuits or business attire worked on at numerous high-tech computers or rushed around holding files. Agent Hill gestured towards a table near the back of the room, facing the wall of windows then walked towards two upright computers that overlooked the rest of the room.

Piper gave a quiet snort and sat in the chair closest to the door, propping her bare feet on the table top and giving Agent Hill a toothy smile when the other woman sent her a dirty look. The pale haired woman folded her clawed hands on her stomach and watched the other agents bustle around the room through her one-way aviators. Another agent handed Hill a file and the woman looked it over briefly before sliding down the table towards Piper.

"Here are the files on your teammates. Look them over."

"Is that an order, Agent Hill?" Piper asked with deceptive mildness as she plucked the somewhat thick file up and began flipping through it curiously, an amused smile playing at her lips when she heard Agent Hill swallow thickly.

"Of course not, Miss Lennart." The other woman said coolly.

Piper's smile widened slightly, but the file blocked her face from view.

'_Steve Rodgers, aka Captain America. The first superhero, how cute.' _She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth quietly before turning the page, her eyebrows climbing her forehead as she read the file on one Doctor Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, _'Interesting, very interesting.'_

* * *

Fury returned to the Helicarrier hours later and Piper was still lounging at the table on the bridge, her pose deceptively relaxed and a closed manila folder in front of her. The tall man paused briefly at the sight before continuing towards where Agent Hill was standing at the helm.

"Any trouble?" He asked, glancing meaningfully at the pale haired woman sitting behind them.

"No, sir." Agent Hill said, "Is the Captain in?"

Fury nodded, hands clasped behind his back as he looked over the information on the computers in front of him.

"He'll be arriving tomorrow."

"And Banner?"

"Romanoff is on her way there now."

In the background, a small brief smile quirked Piper's lips before her face returned back to its relaxed impassiveness.

'_Things are about to get very, very interesting.'_

* * *

"Should have gotten paid up front, Banner." Bruce Banner sighed after the little girl that lead him to the small shack disappeared out the window.

"You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress you pike a hell of a place to settle."

Bruce tensed and turned his head to look over his shoulder at the unfamiliar female voice.

"Avoiding stress isn't the secret." He said as he turned around slowly, dropping his bag on the ground carefully.

"Then what is it?" The woman asked almost playfully, "Yoga?"

Bruce rubbed his hands together, a slight smile on his face as he glanced away, "You brought me to the edge of the city. Smart." He moved towards one of the small windows in the hut, glancing out, "I assume the whole place is surrounded."

The woman tossed the shawl she'd been wearing on the rickety table and took a few steps forward, "Just you and me."

Banner moved away from the window, pointing towards the other window the little girl had crawled out of, "And actress buddy? Is she a spy too? They start that young?"

The woman shifted slightly on her feet, lifting her chin, "I did."

"Who are you?"

The woman shifted again, "Natasha Romanoff.

Bruce looked down, his hands still fidgeting then looked back up at Romanoff, "Are you here to kill me, Ms. Romanoff? Because that's not going to work out for everyone."

"No, no of course not." Romanoff said quickly and walked closer, "I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D." Bruce stated, looking away then back again, "How'd they find me?"

"We never lost you, Doctor." Romanoff said calmly, "We've kept our distance. Even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent."

"Why?" He asked without looking at her, his hands clasped in front of him.

"Nick Fury seems to trust you." She said with a slightly smile, "But now we need you to come in."

Bruce lifted his chin slightly, hands rubbing together nervously, "What if I say no?"

"I'll persuade you."

Bruce licked his bottom lip slightly and looked down, "And what if the other guy says no?"

"You've been more than a year without an incident." Romanoff stated easily, taking a step back and walking around on the hut's support pillars, "I don't think you want to break that streak."

"Well, I don't every time get what I want." Bruce said, pushing the wooden cradle that was in the house before resting a hand on top of it."

Natasha grabbed something and turned back towards the doctor, "Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe."

Bruce chuckled without any real humor, "Well, those I actively try to avoid."

"This," Romanoff said, showing him a photo of a glowing blue cube on the screen of a phone which she placed on the table and pushed towards him, "is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet."

Bruce stepped forward, taking his glassed out of his pocket as he did. He put them on and picked up the phone while Romanoff took a seat at the table, her hands folded in her lap.

"What does Fury what me to do?" He asked, his brow furrowed as he looked at the screen, "Swallow it?"

The woman leaned forward, her forearms resting on the table, "He wants you to find it. It's been taken. It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's not one that knows gamma radiation like you do." She leaned back, hands back in her lap, "If there was, that's where I'd be."

Bruce put the device back on the table and took his glasses off, "So, Fury isn't after the monster?"

"Not that he's told me."

"And he tells you everything?" Bruce asked skeptically.

"Talk to Fury." Romanoff said as she sat up straighter, "He needs you one this."

"He needs me in a cage?" He asked, looking away from the red haired woman.

Romanoff reached for the device with one hand, "No one's going put you in a…"

"Stop lying to me!" Bruce shouted, slamming his hands on the table and cutting her off mid-sentence.

Romanoff jerked to her feet, a gun suddenly in her hand and pointed at Bruce's face. Bruce straightened a sheepish look on his face.

"I'm sorry. That was mean." He said, sounding sincere with a small, abashed smile as he clapped his hands together softly, "I just wanted to see what you'd do."

Romanoff looked at him warily, the gun still pointed at the doctor.

"Why don't we do this the easy way," Bruce said, holding his hands out in a pacifying gesture, "where you don't use that and the other guy doesn't make a mess. Okay?"

Romanoff continued to point the gun at him, a slight fear in her green eyes.

"Natasha?"

Finally the woman lowered the gun, taking a quick breath and placing her hand on her ear.

"Stand down." She said, looking away from Bruce, "We're good here."

Bruce gave her a slightly amused look, "'Just you and me.'"

Natasha lowered her hand, her face still blank but the fear was still present in her eyes.

* * *

**Author's Note: Wow, I'm surprised at the turnout of this story already. 164 views, 8 favs, 16 alerts and 6 reviews. I'm impressed and happy that people seem to like it so far. The next chapter should be written up within a few hours and will be posted tomorrow.**

**Special THANKS to everyone that faved and/or alerted. You rock!**

**SPECIAL MENTIONS!**

**Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape: **Thanks! I hope you like this chapter!

**ZizFox: **Thanks, I'm glad that you're willing to tell me if Piper becomes a mary-sue. I hope you like this chapter!

**X-PoisonCherry-X: **Thanks! Hope you like this chapter too!

**TenebrisSagittarius: **Haha, thanks. I've always adored feral mutants, I think they're the best type. Don't worry, Piper is gonna have quite a few defects and her past is a good reason for the way she acts (at least I think so, but I hope the readers think so too). Piper doesn't have any other powers other than a strong regenerative mutation, like Sabertooth and Wolverine, plus a few more physical aspects that will come to light in later chapters. Anyhooties, you won't have to wait long because our lovely feral heroine and the good doctor are going to be meeting in the next chapter. I hope you like this chapter though!

**Marmarloves1D: **Haha, yup, I don't think there are enough bitchy (as in the mean, "I'll rip you balls off and feed them too you" type of bitchy not the whiny kind). Haha, I've wondered the same thing, but I don't think anyone knows… I'm going to go check that out though. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Amber9 (Guest): **Thanks, I'm glad you liked the 'pilot' chapter, it was quite fun to write. I hope you like this chapter and the chapters too come!


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Third chapter of **_**Paying the Piper. **_**Enjoy, my lovelies, it's going to be an exciting chapter.**

* * *

Piper stretched languidly as she walked onto the Helicarrier's bridge, joints and vertebrae cracking pleasantly after a night of sleeping on a hard metal floor with nothing but a couple blankets and pillows as cushioning.

Her bare feet made almost no noise as she walked towards the conference table. Piper sat in the same seat from the before—the one that was closest to the back wall and allowed her to view the entire area and entrance onto the deck. She propped her feet on the table again and leaned back, one-way black aviators covering her stoplight red eyes from view. Fury glanced back at the feral woman and she gave him a mocking two-fingered salute and a wide grin that showed off her elongated canines. The director gave her a hard stare before turning back to watch his agents finish the preparations.

Piper smirked and rolled her head to the side when she heard the faint hiss of the doors leading onto the bridge opening. A balding man in a nice black suit walked in. He glanced at the lounging woman before walking past her and down the ramp that lead to the lower floor of the bridge. It was a few moments later when the whole Helicarrier began to shake slightly.

Piper glanced over the top of her aviators, staring at the wall of windows in front of her curiously as the water began to churn violently. Her eyebrows rose steadily as the stomach-dropping-to-your-feet feeling she got suddenly. It was the same feeling Piper usually associated with riding in an elevator. Agent Hill began giving orders just as the doors hissed opened again and three more people came onto the bridge.

Piper glanced at three people briefly, evaluating their threat levels quickly. The only woman in the group ignored Piper's existence and headed down the opposite ramp that the balding man had taken and crouched beside another agent's work station. The muscular blonde haired and blue-eyed man was too busy looked around the bridge in awe to notice her lazing position at the table, but the other man wasn't. His warm brown eyes observed her curiously as he moved to stand behind the table, in front of a small platform where two men stood on either side of S.H.I.E.L.D's large metal emblem on the wall.

The feral woman cocked her head slightly at him and inhaled deeply through her nose, taking in the man's scent. He had an earthy scent with a spicy undertone. Piper's lips curled at the edges, she knew what that spicy scent was—rage was such a familiar scent to her—and she looked him over interestedly. He was of average height and broad shouldered, she couldn't tell much of his physic since he was wearing a suit jacket that was a bit too large. His salt-and-pepper hair had a slight wave to it.

Piper flashed a smile at him, showing of her fangs. He started slightly, his brown eyes widening slightly and Piper felt a surge of satisfaction.

"Gentlemen." Fury said, turning to face the table.

She turned away from the man and focused on Fury as he stepped away from his position at the 'helm' of the bridge. A brow rose when the blonde man pulled out a ten and held it up to Fury without looking away from the activity on the bridge. The director smirked slightly and tucked the bill in his trench coat pocket. Dismissing the action as unimportant, she watched Fury walked towards the man slightly behind her.

"Doctor, thank you for coming." Fury stated, holding his hand out to the man.

Piper watched as the man licked his lips and avoided direct eye contact with the S.H.I.E.L.D. director as he shook his hand.

"Thanks for asking nicely." The doctor stated, "So, uh, how long am I staying."

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind." Fury said calmly, watching the man.

The man nodded, turning away from Fury and walking towards one of the railings surrounding the little conference area, "Where are you with that?"

Piper got to her feet silently and walked closer to the railing as well, her curiosity getting the better of her as it frequently did. Fury watched both before gesturing towards the balding man that had come in earlier.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet." The other man said, crossing his arms over his chest, his gaze briefly flickering away from the doctor and towards the pale haired woman before looking back, "Cell phones, laptops, etcetera. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not gonna find them in time."

Piper glanced at the redhead before hopping up to balance on the railing, holding onto it with one hand.

"You'll have to narrow your field." She stated, looking at the computers below with interest.

The man that smelled of rage nodded at her, "She's right. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked, crossing his arms.

Piper snorted quietly and rolled her eyes behind her aviators, instead focusing on the computers again.

"Call every lab you know." The man said as he shrugged out of his jacket, "Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places."

Piper noted Fury's satisfied expression and rolled her eyes again. She gave the man another shrewd once over, deducing that this must be the infamous Dr. Bruce Banner, gamma radiation expert and feared green rage monster.

'_For some reason I thought he'd be bigger.' _She thought before shrugging her shoulders dismissively.

Fury nodded and gestured with his chin at an agent below to do as the good doctor said.

"Do you have somewhere for me to work?" Banner asked as he rolled up the sleeves of his purple button down shirt.

Fury uncrossed his arms and turned to look at the redhead woman, "Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory please?"

Agent Romanoff nodded and walked back up the ramp, glancing at Piper as she passed her before walking passed the doctor.

"You're gonna love it, Doc." The red haired agent said as she led the doctor away from the bridge, "We got all the toys."

Dr. Banner followed after her, glancing back at the unmoving woman still crouched on the railing.

* * *

Piper rolled her shoulders and stood slowly. After testing her balance for a moment, she started walking along the railing, her bare feet gripping it much like a cat's would. She hadn't moved from her crouched position on the rail since the good doctor and the redhead had left, hours earlier. Night had set and Piper was beginning to feel agitated with the lack of action.

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble." She heard the slightly balding man say to the blonde man beside him, who she had learned was Agent Coulson and Steve Rodgers, better known as Captain America.

"No, no. It's fine." Steve said cordially as he looked out the working agents, his blue-eyed gaze briefly lingering on Piper's pacing form.

"It's a vintage set." Coulson said and Piper felt her blue-tinged lips twitch slightly at how obvious it was that he practically worshipped the Captain, "It took me a couple of years to collect them all."

Steve listened but didn't say anything, his attention mostly on the pale haired woman pacing on top of the railing like a tiger in cage. The tank top she wore had been ripped in half, exposing a large expanse of dusk colored skin and rippling abdominal muscles. Her shorts were just as revealing as the tank top, showing off the way the tensely coiled muscles in her thighs flexed as she paced.

"Near mint." Coulson said after a few moments of silence, looking over at hero eagerly, "Slight foxing around the edges, but-"

"We got a hit. A sixty-seven percent match." Another agent cut him off, turning away from his computer.

Piper froze mid-step and turned towards the agent, eagerness and barely suppressed agitation rolling off her in waves. Coulson and Rodgers stepped closer, standing in front of the railing Piper was perched on.

"Wait." Another agent called out, "Cross match seventy-nine percent."

Coulson walked towards the agent that had spoken first, "Location?"

The agent turned back to the computer in front of him, "Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Königstrasse."

"He's not exactly hiding." Rodgers said and Piper snorted.

She leapt off the railing, landing on the balls of her feet then pivoted to face Fury, who was looking at Steve.

"Captain." Fury stated and the super soldier turned to look at him, "You're up."

Rodgers took a deep breath and nodded, heading out of the bridge to suit up. Piper watched him go, her red eyes narrowed behind her aviators before she looked back at Fury.

The director looked at her before nodding, "You're with him, Lennart."

"Finally." The feral woman hissed and stalked out of the room, bloodlust practically oozing off her.

* * *

Piper slipped into the room she'd been assigned, shedding her ratty tank top and shorts then emptied her canvas knapsack onto her bed. She ignored the equally ratty tank tops and shorts, instead she grabbed the only articles of clothing that weren't made of denim or cotton. The feral woman slipped the black long sleeved shirt and shorts, the fabric clung to her muscled form but could stretch if someone larger than Piper wore it. Leaving her feet bare as usually, Piper pulled her silver-gray hair into a tight plait then she exited her room, her aviators covering her eyes once again.

She met up with the captain at the bridge, where Agent Romanoff was waiting to take them up to the aircraft carrier part of the Helicarrier. The redhead lead them out of the room and up to the top of the Helicarrier, where a jet was already prepared for them take off.

Piper rolled her shoulders as she sat tensely in the jet, ignoring the way the super soldier was staring at her like she was a rather fascinating insect.

"If you want to keep your eyeballs intact, I'd suggest looking elsewhere Captain." She snarled, finally tired of the man's staring.

Steve flushed and he looked away briefly then looked back, "I apologize ma'am. It's just that I still don't know your name."

Piper's lips curled up, flashing her fangs but it was Agent Romanoff who answered.

"Her name's Piper Lennart." The fiery haired woman said mildly from the cockpit, "I'd advise leaving her alone, Captain. She doesn't like humans."

Steve gave Romanoff a confused look before looking back at Piper.

"What do you mean?" He questioned, "Aren't you human?"

Piper's lips curled up, flashing her fangs in an animalistic smile, "Not anymore."

* * *

Piper's blue tinged lips curled into a silent snarl as she crouched on a building near the open space where the Norse god, Loki, had rounded up the finely dressed people from the event. She had leapt out of the jet about a mile from Loki's position and had run the rest of the way, using the rooftops. She had arrived just as all the humans had rushed out of the building and the god had begun to give his speech. A speech that was beginning to grate on her nerves and all she wanted to do was rip his horned helmet wearing head right off his scrawny shoulders. Either that or rip his throat out with her teeth. Her silver-gray skin had gained a violet tint and her formerly blunt teeth were now as sharp and elongated as her canines had been while her eyes had turned solid black, still hiding behind her aviators.

She was pulled out of her bloody fantasies when an elderly man stood, facing the god defiantly.

"Not to men like you." The elder said, his voice strong and his German accent thick.

Loki lowered his scepter slightly, an amused look on his gaunt face, "There are no men like me."

Piper snarled at that.

"There are always men like you." The old man stated and Piper snarled silently in agreement before leaping gracefully from the building and landed silently in a crouched position.

Piper flexed her hands, her black talons lengthening as she stalked towards the crowd like the predator she was. Her black eyes were focused solely on the Loki that was in the middle of the crowd. He raised scepter, that infuriatingly amused look still on his face.

"Look to your elder, people." The god said dramatically as he pointed the now glowing scepter at the old man, "Let him be an example."

Terror filled the old man's face as a blast of blue was shot out of the scepter. Piper lunged then, grabbing on of the clones and sinking her talons into his throat, causing it to disappear. She looked towards the old man, seeing that Steve in his Captain America get up had dropped down in front of him, holding his shield out protectively. The blue blast bounced off the shield and hit Loki in the chest, sending him to the ground. Steve lowered his shield and straightened from his crouched position.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else," Steve said as he walked closer to Loki while the people began to scatter, backing away from the two men, "We ended up disagreeing."

"The soldier." Loki snapped as he got back to his feet and his gaze flickered over to where Piper was standing, "And who are you?"

Piper gave him a feral smile, her pointed teeth glittering with saliva but she didn't respond any more than that.

He glared at her before turning back to Captain America as he finished getting to his feet, "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time." Steve retorted as Agent Romanoff came forward with the jet, the gun lowering from the bottom.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." The agent said using the jet's PA system.

Piper snorted in disbelief and crouched, rocking on the ball of her feet just as Loki launched another blue blast at the jet, which swerved to avoid being hit. She lunged to the side, leaping onto the back of another clone of Loki while Captain America threw his shield at the real one. The two men began fighting and Piper ignored them in favor of dissolving any clones that got in her path.

Piper looked up when _Shoot to Thrill _by ACDC started playing from the hover jet's PA system followed by a red and gold blur. The feral woman jerked her hand and the clone she'd had by the throat dissolved, her gaze focused on the red and gold metal suit that was currently pointing an entire arsenal at Loki, who had been knocked back on his ass by Captain America.

"Make a move, Reindeer Games." The man in the suit said cockily as the Captain rolled to his feet and moved to stand beside him.

Loki's metal armor and horned helmet disappeared and was replaced by a leather armor instead as he held his hands up submissively.

"Good move." Iron man said, his arsenal disappearing back into his suit and Piper snorted, unsatisfied with the lack of bloodshed.

"Mr. Stark." Steve greeted without taking his eyes off the 'incapacitated' god.

"Captain."

Agent Romanoff lowered the jet to the ground and Piper stepped up behind Loki.

"Get up." She growled and grabbed his arm, yanking him to his feet.

She shoved him towards the Captain and Iron Man who grabbed one of the god's arms each and dragged him into the hover jet with Piper prowling after them.

* * *

**Author's Note: Yay! Third chapter is complete! Next chapter will be posted tomorrow so stay tuned for that. I hope everyone liked this chapter! Now to clarify, Piper is feral mutant (like Sabertooth and Wolverine from X-Men) but there's also some physical aspects of her mutant that she didn't come by naturally (meaning she wasn't born with them) and all that will be explained.**

**Special THANKS to everyone that faved and/or alerted. You are awesome!**

**SPECIAL MENTIONS!**

**Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape: **I know right? XD Hope you like this chapter.

**Geekchic8428: **Haha, glad you like it so far! Well, there's a button called 'Legacy Story Stats' on your account page under the 'traffic stat' tab. Legacy Story Stats all the stats for your stories, such as Title, word count, chapters, number of reviews/views/favs/alerts. It's really helpful if you have multiple stories. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**SkittleMachine: **Thanks, glad you like it so far. Piper is a feral mutant (like Sabertooth and Wolverine) but with a few more quirks to her that she didn't come by naturally. I'll have the chapter after this one posted the next day since it's all written up. Hope you liked this chapter!

**Nostalgic Child: **Yeah, I know, sometimes my plot bunnies scare me a little. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter.

**Justiceintheworldofhp-yearight: **Thanks, glad you like the story so far. I hope you like this chapter too!

**Mystical-Mist-Devil: **Thanks, I'm glad you like it so far. I hope you like this chapter too!

**Laveycee: **Haha, thanks. I hope you like this chapter too!


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Chapter four! Piper meets not only a second Norse god but she semi-official meets the man in the Iron Man suit. Enjoy, my lovelies!**

* * *

Piper flexed her fingers, black talons retracting then lengthening as she focused intently on Loki who was sitting across from her in the hover jet. Steve and Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit—but sans helmet—were standing near the cockpit, talking to Fury.

"He saying anything?" the director demanded through the intercom.

"Not a word." Natasha replied.

"Just get him here. We're low on time." Fury said impatiently and the intercom clicked off.

"I don't like it." Piper heard the captain mutter but she didn't take her gaze off of the god.

"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Stark questioned disinterestedly.

"I don't remember it being that easy." Rodgers shot back, "This guy packs a wallop."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Still, you're pretty spry for an older fellow."

Piper snorted quietly at that, drawing the men's attention to her for a moment before they looked at each other.

"What's your thing, Pilates?" Tony asked.

"What?" Steve demanded, sounding agitated and confused.

"It's like calisthenics." Piper stated drily.

"What she said. You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle." Tony quipped, smirking slightly when Piper snorted another laugh.

Steve gave him a dark look, "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"There's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Piper murmured, watching Loki's face carefully.

Steve glanced at her while Tony nodded in agreement just as a flash of lightning lit up the stormy sky.

"Where's this coming from?" Natasha wondered out loud looking out the window of the hover jet.

Piper jerked to her feet when a crash of thunder sounded and the jet shook slightly. She gave a low growl of annoyance as she looked away from Loki to stare out the window. Steve turned to look at Loki, who had a rather intimidated expression on his pale face.

"What the matter?" The captain asked sarcastically, "Are you scared of a little lightning?"

The God of Mischief looked at the Captain and Stark then up at the ceiling, "I'm not overly fond of what follows."

The jet continued to jostle slightly and Piper growled again, feeling a distinct distaste for air travel. She liked her feet firmly planted on the ground, thank you very much. Another flash of lightning followed by a crash of thunder and suddenly a loud thump sounded as something landed on the roof of the hover jet.

"What the hell is that?" Piper snarled, fists clenched so tightly her claws pierced the skin and blood trickled out before the wounds knitted together.

Stark grabbed his helmet and secured it while the captain pulled his mask on himself. Piper reached out to steady herself against the wall, digging her talons in slightly. Tony hit the button that lowered the ramp and stalked towards the back of the jet just as a man in silver armor and a red cape landed on the ramp. Tony powered up his hand blaster but the large blonde man slammed him in the chest with the head of a massive hammer, sending Iron Man back towards the cockpit.

Piper snarled and took a step forward as the man grabbed Loki by the throat, snapping the belts that secured him to the seat as if they were paper. Then the man jumped out of the hover jet with Loki.

"Shit." Piper growled.

"And now there's that guy." Tony muttered after he'd gotten back to his feet.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha called over her shoulder.

"That guy's a friendly?" Rodgers demanded, panted slightly.

"Doesn't matter." Piper growled furiously rolling her shoulders and listened to the bones crack and pop as they began to realign as her anger and frustration grew.

"If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Stark said as he turned around, heading towards the open hatch of the hover jet.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve snapped, watching the other man walk away.

Tony paused and glanced over his shoulder, "I have a plan. Attack."

He launched himself from the hover jet, the blasters on the suit's feet and hands propelling him and allowing him to fly through the storm. Piper flung off her aviators, a feral grin on her lips and rocked on the balls of her feet, bending her knees slightly.

"What are you doing, Lennart?" Steve demanded, "You can just jump out of here without a parachute."

"Watch me." Piper snarled, flashing her sharp teeth at the super soldier before darting forward and leaping out of the hover jet with a loud whoop.

Steve growled slightly and grabbed a parachute from the rack and pulled it on.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Natasha said over her shoulder as she pressed a few buttons and flicked a switch.

"I don't see how I can." The captain responded.

"These guys come from legend." Natasha protested, "They're basically gods."

Steve finished strapping the parachute on and looked at Natasha with a slight smile, "There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

He grabbed his shield and ran towards the open back, diving off the ramp like it was dive board.

* * *

White hot pain surged through Piper's body as her bones cracked, shifted and realigned, her skin pulled taut. Her solid black eyes zeroed in on where Loki was seemed to be sitting on an outcrop of rock. Her bones finished rearranging themselves and the pain disappeared just as she hit the rocky outcropping and rolled, coming to a stop in a crouched position with on hand resting on the ground. She straightened, appearing less human than she had on the hover jet and looked towards where the God of Mischief was sitting, staring at her wide eyed.

Piper stalked towards him slowly, malevolent black eyes boring into his green eyes. Once she was standing right in front of him Piper grabbed the back of his neck with a clawed hand, turning his head back to the fight between the other Asgardian and Iron Man. She kept her hand around his throat, tips of her black talons pressed against his jugular in a silent threat as she watched the blonde Asgardian call down lightning and direct it towards Iron Man.

Tony's suit sparked a few times before he suddenly lifted both hands and shot a powerful energy blast at other man—who Piper figured must be Thor—sending him flying backwards into a couple trees. The two men continued to duke it out, launching each other into trees and boulders or slamming each other into the ground. Suddenly, the Captain appeared and threw his shield at the two fighting men, pulling their attention to him. Thor abruptly slammed Tony in the chest with his hammer, sending him flying then he suddenly charged the captain. Steve put his shield up and the hammer came down hard with a loud ringing sound that made Piper snarl in pain. The impact sent the three men flying and seeing an end to the fight, Piper hauled Loki to his feet and leapt from the large rock they'd been perched on. She dropped Loki on his face as she landed in a crouch beside him in the middle of the three men who had gotten to their feet.

"Are you done?" She growled as she yanked Loki to his feet, "We have things to do."

The three men stared at the woman, who really didn't look much like a woman anymore—at least not a human one. Her grayish violet skin had darkened and pulled tautly over steel-cables of muscle and bone while her silver-gray hair had come out of its plait and fell in a wild tangled lion's mane around her face and solid black eyes with a bright red vertical pupil glared out at them. The woman looked like a feral demon straight out of Hell. The only thing that remained completely the same was her height.

"Uh, yeah, Beast-Girl, we're done." Tony said still staring and Piper snorted, shoving Loki towards Thor.

* * *

Piper lounged in her normal chair at the conference table on the bridge of the Helicarrier, her body back to its semi-normal state with silver-gray skin and stoplight red eyes. She was back in her ratty tank top and shorts, her aviators resting beside her bare feet on the table as she listened to Fury interrogate—or attempt to intimidate—Loki.

Romanoff was sitting in the chair diagonally from Piper, staring at the small screen that was showing the interrogation while Rodgers sat to directly across from Piper, Dr. Banner was standing in the same place as earlier, his arms crossed tightly as he listened along with the others, Thor stood at the other end of the table, one arm over his chest while his hand rested near his mouth.

"It's an impressive cage." Loki's voice rang out, "Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Was Fury's retort.

Piper moved her feet from the table and looked at the little screen they had been covering, her interest suddenly piqued.

"Oh, I've heard." Loki drawled as he looked directly at the camera, "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man."

Piper saw Agent Romanoff look over at Banner, who looked back at her a humorless smile curling the edges of his mouth. Piper snorted and leaned back in her chair.

"That's insulting." She grunted and the others looked at her, "I'm more of a beast than he'll ever be, rage monster or not."

She had shut her eyes so she missed the slight smile that appeared on the doctor's face as the trapped god continued to goad Fury.

"How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury questioned, his voice deceptively calm, "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill cuz it's fun." The director's voice had steadily gotten harsher the longer he spoke, "You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh." Loki cooed, his voice smug and mocking all at once, "It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share."

Piper opened her eyes again and straightened, a frown on her face as she stared down at the screen again.

"And then to be reminded what real power is." Loki continued, looking away from the camera and back towards Fury.

Fury smirked slightly and started walking away, "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."

The screen cut off and Piper leaned back in her chair, tapping her talons thoughtfully against the table as she looked at the ceiling and thought about what Loki had said.

"He really grows on you doesn't?" Dr. Banner said, trying to make light of the situation.

Piper snorted and glanced over at him, "Like the fucking plague."

The doctor's lip twitched and he inclined his head towards her slightly. She snorted again and looked at the captain who had started speaking.

"Loki's gonna drag this out." He stated then looked over at Thor, "So, Thor, what's his play."

Piper looked at the God of Thunder curiously waiting for his response.

"He has an army called the Chitauri." The god said without looking at them, his face troubled.

Thor turned around to face them, "They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army from outer space." Steve said, looking over at Natasha first then Piper.

Piper grinned widely, her fangs indenting her bottom lip, "How fun."

Bruce spoke up, taking his glasses off and starting to fidget with them, "So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor questioned, looking confused.

"He's an astrophysicist." Bruce clarified.

"He's a friend." Thor said, surprisingly soft.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell." Piper spoke up and jerked her chin towards Natasha, "Along with one of theirs."

The red haired agent nodded in agreement, her face carefully blank.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him." Steve said suddenly, "He's not leading an army from here."

"I think he wanted to be captured." Piper stated, laying her hand down flat on the table and stared at it, "He has something up his sleeve. An ace in the hole, if you will."

"How do you know?" Steve asked, looking at her skeptically and she lifted her head to look him in the eye.

"It's what I would do." She said coolly, "'Know thy enemy' Captain."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Bruce said, keeping the super soldier from saying something else, "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him."

Piper gave a harsh bark of laughter at that. It was an accurate description to say the least.

"Have care how you speak." Thor rumbled angrily, "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha said matter-of-factly giving the Norse god a dry look.

Thor looked away uncomfortably, "He's adopted."

Piper rolled her eyes, "I was adopted too, but I didn't kill eighty people."

Natasha gave her a disbelieving look, "No, you've just killed five times that many."

The feral woman shrugged her shoulders and blinked lazily, "It wasn't because I was adopted."

"Wait." Steve broke in, looking at Piper with wide eyes, "You've killed people?"

Piper gave him a predatory smile, "And enjoyed every damn minute."

"I think it's about the mechanics." Bruce cut in, once again keeping the captain from speaking, "Iridium… What do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony Stark—sans Iron Man suit—said as he walked onto the bridge with Coulson, "I'm just saying, pick a weekend. I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive."

Coulson gave an amused shake of his head and walked away as Tony continued towards the group, his hands in his pocket.

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it at S.H.I.E.L.D. No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He said then slapped Thor's bicep with back of his hand as he walked past the god, heading towards the 'helm' part of the bridge where Fury or Agent Hill usually stood, "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants."

Tony gestured with his hand, "Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails."

Piper chuckled under breath while the working agents looked up at him, their expressions hard.

"That man is playing _Galaga_!" the billionaire cried out suddenly, throwing his arm out in what seemed like a random direction, "He thought we wouldn't notice but we did."

He looked at the screens in front of him, his expression perplexed then he covered his left eye with his hand briefly, "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns." Agent Hill said drily, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Sounds exhausting." Tony muttered and turned to mess with one of the computers.

"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get ahold of pretty easily." Tony said as he moved along the different computers, "The only major component he'll need is a power source with a high-energy density." Piper noticed his hand slip something onto the side of the computer as he turned to face the group again, "Something to kick-start the Cube."

Piper started idly tapping her fingers against the tabletop again, her thoughts moving rapidly around her head as she contemplated what Tony just said.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked sarcastically.

"Last night." Stark said like it was obvious as he faced her, "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers." He explained and started walking around the table, pulling his hands from his pockets and holding his arms out wide, "Am I the only who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.

"He'd have to heat the Cube to one hundred twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Piper said distractedly, her thoughts still whirling.

Steve looked gave her a confused look but she didn't notice, still thinking.

Tony nodded as he continued walking around the table, "Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner said, pausing in his pacing to look over at Piper then Tony who was approaching him.

"Finally, people who speaks English." The playboy billionaire said, gesturing to the doctor then the distracted pale-haired woman.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve muttered, shifting in his chair.

Piper snapped out of her thoughts, her sharp gaze focusing on Tony and Bruce who were shaking hands.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner." Tony said as he let go of the other man's hand, "Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I am a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster."

"Thanks." Banner said in bemusement.

Piper gave a short bark of laughter at the uncomfortable looking doctor and the smirking genius playboy.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube." Fury said as he walked into the room, giving Stark a stern look, "I was hoping you might join him."

"I'd start with that stick of his." Steve said, looking around, "It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube." Fury said mildly, "And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor questioned, looking confounded, "I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve said excitedly, then looked around, "I understood that reference."

Tony looked over at Bruce, "Shall we play, Doctor?"

Bruce looked up at him then gestured towards the door with his arm, "This way, sir."

"Wait." Tony said and held up a finger then walked over to where Piper was sitting, grabbing her arm and tugging on it, "Let's go Gargoyle Girl."

"Call me that again and I'll rip your intestines out your mouth and strangle you with them." Piper growled at him lowly and jerked her arm from his grasp, but followed after him and the good doctor, leaving the others staring after them curiously.

* * *

Fury shook his head slightly, unsurprised that Stark would have gained an interest in the feral woman. Despite being almost completely ruled by animal instincts, Piper Lennart had a genius level intellect. Her mind was pure animal instinct mated to intelligence in an unholy combination; add that to the non-existent empathy and disregard for the human race that had been drilled into her skull since birth and you had Piper Lennart—the perfect killer.

* * *

**Author's Note: Fourth chapter completed! Huzzah! Next chapter will have some humorous and not so humorous interactions between Piper, Tony, and Bruce so stay tuned for that. **

**Special THANKS to everyone that faved and/or alerted. You guys rock!**

**SPECIAL MENTIONS!**

**TenebrisSagittarius: **Thanks! We'll get to see Piper somewhat in action in chapter six when she and the Hulk get into a disagreement. I hope you like this chapter!

**Justiceintheworldofhp-yearight: **Thanks! I hope you like this chapter too!

**Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape: **I'm gonna try to incorporate them in later chapters, so yeah. I hope you like this chapter!

**Amber9 (Guest): **Thank you! I absolutely adore Sabertooth and Wolverine, feral mutants are definitely my favorite type. I hope you like this chapter!

**Mytical-Mist-Devil: **Thank you! I hope you like this chapter too!

**Nostalgic Child: **Thanks! Haha, I'm not sure if Romanoff likes anyway all that much, except for maybe Barton. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Cat of Flames (Guest): **Thank you! I hope you like this chapter!

**LilaWolken: **Thanks, I'm glad you like Piper so far. Tough female characters are my favorite too. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Geekchic8428: **No problem! I hope you like this chapter!

**xxxRena: **Thanks, I'm glad you like the story so far. I hope you like this chapter too!


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Chapter 5, yay! Some humorous and not-so humorous interactions between Piper, Tony, and Bruce. Enjoy, my lovelies.**

* * *

Piper perched cross-legged on one of the tables in the laboratory, her elbow resting on her thigh while the palm of her hand held her head up and her talons tapped softly against her cheek. Bruce was waving a device that looked similar to a hand-held metal detector over the glowing orb that was in Loki's scepter, apparently calibrating its gamma signature into the computer.

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract." He said, looking at the graphs on the computer screen in front of him, "But it's going to take weeks to process."

Tony had moved over to another computer and began fiddling with it, moving things around on the screen, "If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops."

Bruce chuckled slightly, "All I packed was a toothbrush."

Tony chuckled and smirked as he walked over to where Bruce was working, patting Piper's thigh as he passed her, "You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it. It's Candy Land."

Piper snorted slightly and hopped of the table, grabbing one of the handheld computer tablets then hopped back up on the table. She started pulling up the files on the Tesseract and, since her curiosity got the better of her, she pulled up the files S.H.I.E.L.D. had on her too.

"Thanks," Bruce said, not looking up from his work, "but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem."

Piper looked up from the tablet curiously, "Impressive."

The doctor and the billionaire looked over at her and Bruce smiled humorlessly. Tony shook his head, smirking slightly at the woman.

"Yeah, well I promise a stress-free environment." He said as he walked around to the doctor's other side, a small screwdriver like object in hand, "No tension, no surprises."

"Ow!" Bruce yelped and turned to look at Tony after the billionaire shocked him with the screwdriver like object.

Piper threw her head back and laughed loudly as Tony leaned closer.

"Hey!" Piper glanced over when she heard the captain's shout before returning her attention to Tony and Bruce.

"Nothing?" the philanthropist asked as Bruce rubbed his side, looking a bit amused.

"Are you nuts?" Steven demanded as he stormed into the lab after witnessing Tony shock the good doctor.

"Jury's out." Tony said, watching as Bruce went back to working at the computer in front of him.

Piper snickered and slid off the table, moving to stand on Bruce's other side so she could see what he was working on.

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you?" Tony asked, sounding impressed, "What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

Piper chuckled lowly and glanced over at Tony, "Maybe a really good fuck?"

Tony smirked at her, "That could work too."

Bruce flushed and shifted embarrassed, but continued working without answering them. Tony smirked suddenly and took a step in Piper's direction with mini cattle prod extended.

"Do it and I'll shove it up ass then rip your arm off and beat you with it." The woman threatened boredly as she pulled up another file on the tablet.

The billionaire backed off, deciding not to test his luck with the volatile female.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve demanded, glaring at Tony darkly.

The billionaire turned to face him, gesturing with the mini-cattle prod, "Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." Steve snapped then softened tone, "No offense, Doc."

"I thought it was funny." Piper said nonchalantly and reached out to touch the screen in front of her, enlarging one of the graphs to get a better look at it.

"It's alright," Bruce muttered, avoiding eye contact with them, "I wouldn't have come aboard if I could handle pointy things."

Tony fiddled with the device in his hand as he walked away, then pointed it at Banner as he walked backwards, "You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut. Like Wild Woman, over there."

Piper flipped him off without looking up from the tablet.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Steve retorted, watching the philanthropist angrily.

"You think I'm not?" Tony demanded as he grabbed a silver package from a table then walked back to stand beside Bruce, "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked skeptically and Piper snorted.

"He's a fucking spy, Captain." She drawled as she carefully hopped up onto the table, "Of course, he's hiding something."

"He's _**the**_ spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony added as he popped a couple blueberries in his mouth, then gestured at Bruce, "It's bugging him too. Isn't it?"

"Uh," Bruce said, looking at them briefly then away, waving his hands slightly, "I just want to finish my work here, and-"

"Doctor?" Steve asked, looking at the doctor imploringly.

Bruce sighed, glancing at the other three people in the room then took of his glasses to fiddle with them—something, Piper noticed, he had a habit of doing when he was either nervous, uncomfortable, or thinking, "'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube."

"I heard it." Steve said, a little confused.

"Well, I think that was meant for you." Bruce stated as he gestured towards Tony and the billionaire held out his package of blueberries, the doctor taking a few as he continued, "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly…" Steve started, smirking slight but faltered when Tony looked at him, "Building in New York?"

Piper tapped her fingers against her thighs, "Stark Tower is powered by an arc reactor, similar to the one keeping Tony alive right at this moment. It's a self-sustaining energy source."

Bruce nodded, holding out his handful of blueberries to her. Piper plucked a few from his hand and tossed them into her mouth as the doctor spoke.

"That building will ring itself for, what, a year?" He said, directing the question at Tony who nodded slightly.

"It's just the prototype." He said, "I'm kinda the only name in clean energy right now. That's what they're getting at."

"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce asked rhetorically with a slight shrug as he looked at the Captain, "What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files." Tony stated as he walked around the table Bruce and towards Steve, looking at a smaller, handheld computer in his hand.

"I'm sorry. Did you say-"

"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge." Tony cut the super soldier off, putting the device in his back pocket, "In a few hours, I'll know ever dirty little secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has tried to hide." He held the packet of blueberries to the captain, "Blueberry?"

Steve gave him a look, ignoring the offered fruit, "Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around."

Piper flexed her claws as she watched the two from her seat on the lab table next to Bruce's computer. Bruce shifted uncomfortably and glanced back and forth between the two men.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?" Tony mocked, "Historically, not awesome."

Steve rolled his eyes, looking away from the philanthropist, "I think Loki's trying to wind us up." He looked back at Stark coolly, "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style." Tony said nonchalantly, popping a handful of blueberries in his mouth and Piper snickered quietly.

Steve tilted his chin up, looking down at Tony, "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

Piper leaned forward, somewhat eager to see if this little argument will come to blows or remain insults.

"Of the people in this room, which one is A, wearing a spangly outfit and, B, not of use?" Tony quipped, looking at Steve mockingly.

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Bruce implored softly and Piper cocked her head to the side, watching the captain's face shrewdly.

Steve looked at the three of them then looked away and started to walk out of the lab, "Just find the Cube."

* * *

Piper watched the captain pause outside the lab door through the glass window that showed the hallway. She cocked her head when he seemed to take a deep breath and head in the opposite direction of the bridge, towards the cargo bay.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony asked out loud, "I'm wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."

Piper rolled her eyes and grabbed the tablet she'd been messing with before, hopping up onto one of the tables while Tony and Bruce worked at two different computers.

"Huh." Bruce muttered, "The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us."

"What he's got is an Acme dynamite kit." Tony stated as he walked across the lab to where Bruce was working, ruffling Piper's hair as he passed on his way there.

The pale haired woman snarled, snapping her teeth at his hands as a growl rumbled in her chest. She was sorely tempted to carry out her earlier threat and rip out his intestines so she could strangle him with them.

"It's going to blow up in his face." Tony said, ignoring Piper's non-verbal threat as he moved to another computer across from where Bruce was working, "And I'm going to be there when it does."

Bruce gave him an amused look as he slid one of the graphs from his computer to Tony's, "Yeah. I'll read all about it."

Tony glanced at him then at the computer, "Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up with the rest of us."

Piper glanced over at Bruce when he chuckled dryly as he continued to work at the computer, adjusting some things.

"Ah, you see, I don't get a suit of armor." He said, "I'm exposed. Like a nerve. It's a nightmare."

"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart." Tony stated, looking over at Bruce as he moved away from the computer and gestured towards the glowing spot on his chest, "This stops it. This little circle of light, it's part of me now, not just armor."

Tony stopped in front of Bruce, the computer screen the only thing between them, "Wild Woman over there, is a mutant and former government experiment, ruled by feral animal instincts and barely tempered by a human intelligence."

Piper jerked her head up to stare at him, her lips curled back in a snarl as the two men looked over at her—Tony looking slightly smug while Bruce looked at her with wary curiosity.

"It's a terrible privilege." Tony said, looking back at Bruce through the screen.

"But you can control it." Bruce said then gestured to Piper, who was watching them narrowly, "So can she."

"Because I learned how." Tony retorted, "And Beast-Girl doesn't bother to control it."

"It's different." Bruce insisted, looking away from Tony and back to one of the graphs on the screen.

Tony reached under the screen and minimalized everything, forcing the doctor to pay attention to him, "Hey, I read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

"So you saying that the Hulk…The other guy saved my life?" He faltered slightly, "That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"

"I guess we'll find out." Tony said with a smirk as he walked back to his computer and Bruce continued working.

"You may not enjoy that."

"And you just might."

Piper rolled her eyes, _'Males.'_

* * *

The three worked in silence for the next hour or so, but Piper could feel Bruce's curious gaze on her every once in awhile. Finally, she put the tablet she was working on down and stared at the doctor until he looked up at her again.

"Is there's something you want to ask, Doctor?" She drawled, resting her elbows on her thighs and steepling her fingers and rested them against her blue-tinged lips.

Bruce fidgeted slightly, looking away then back at her, "What did Tony mean?"

She cocked her head, pale braid falling over her shoulder, "About me being a mutant and an experiment? Or about me not bothering to control myself?"

"Both."

Piper pursed her lips, glancing away from him and towards Tony who was working at a computer on the other side of the room, not really trying to hide the fact that he was listening to them talk.

"Mutants," She said, seeming to pick her words carefully, "are people born with an enhanced genome that gives them super-powers. There are four classes of mutants—Psionic, Elemental, Molecular, and Feral, plus hundreds of subclasses."

"I fall under the last one—a mutant with physical and mental characteristics of an animal." She looked at him suddenly, red eyes glittering with a certain amount of predatory maliciousness and Bruce started slightly, "A feral usually exhibits characteristics of the animal they're DNA is mixed with from the moment their born and other aspects of their mutations will develop when puberty is reached or when the body is stressed to the point that it triggers the dormant mutated genes."

She flexed her fingers, claws lengthening then retracting and she bared her teeth, "One mutation all mutants have, is regeneration since our bodies are put through a tremendous amount of stress because of the powers. The only difference is the strength of the re-gen gene. Most only have a mild form of it, enough to keep them alive and healthy. While a small few, like myself, have the ability to withstand anything, making us virtually immortal."

"What do you mean 'virtually'?" Tony asked moving away from his computer to stand next to Bruce.

"I mean, the re-gen gene views aging as a defect so once a mutant with a powerful regenerative mutation reaches their physical peak, they stop aging, mutants like that can live for decades, centuries even." Piper explained, rolling her shoulders and cracking her neck, "It also means we can't really die, unless you behead and dismember the mutant with the re-gen factor. And even then it's not a guarantee, since if the head is reconnected to the body, the severed limbs will just regenerate."

"You talking from experience, Wild Woman?" Tony questioned, fascinated by the prospect the woman was presenting.

Piper cocked an eyebrow at him, "You should already know that. You did hack my file after all."

"Wait." Bruce cut in, looking at Tony then Piper, "Explain being a government experiment, please."

Piper hopped off the table she been sitting on and leaned against it instead, crossing her arms over her chest, "I was taken by some sort of government agency when I was a child. The initial capture is what caused my re-gen gene to activate before I reached puberty, they killed my mother—she was a non-mutant and my father was fighting in a war, I don't remember anything about them really." She tapped her claws against her biceps, her eyes distant, "I don't remember much about the experiments either, other than they hurt like a bitch and they fucked with my initial mutation. Except for having claws and fangs, I looked like a normal human but by the time I'd escaped from the agency experimenting on me years later, I'd changed. I looked like I do now, for the most part anyway."

"Then what was that after Thor grabbed Loki?" Tony persisted, "You looked like one of those female gargoyles from that old cartoon, except without the wings and horns."

Piper's lip twitched and her pupil seemed to widen until her entire eye was solid black, "That's the result of the experiments, Mr. Stark. It was a, half-form, if you will. I still have some ability to think like a human being and am not completely ruled by animal instincts, rage, and bloodlust."

Tony opened his mouth to comment but Piper cut him off.

"I think now would be a good time to check on you decryption program, Mr. Stark." She said coolly, her eyes returned to their, normal stoplight red as she picked up her tablet and ended the conversation.

Bruce cleared his throat and turned back to his computer screen, his mind whirling as he thought about everything he'd just learned from the woman standing behind him. Tony looked at the two then huffed, grabbing his handheld out of his back pocket and checking the progress of the decryption program as Piper had suggested.

* * *

Piper sat cross-legged on the lab table that Loki's scepter was resting on and Bruce leaned against the wall behind her while Tony say on the edge of the table with the computer screen hanging from the ceiling in front of him and his handheld in one hand.

"What are you going, Mr. Stark?"' Fury demanded as he stalked into the lab, his trench coat billowing out behind him.

"Uh, kinda been wondering the same thing about you." Tony responded, looking at the device in his hand.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury snapped, standing a few feet in front of the table Tony, Piper and Bruce where either sitting on or standing by.

"We are." Piper said mildly, picking something out from under her nails.

"The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now." Bruce said from behind Tony and Piper, rubbing his knuckles, "When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." He said, pointing behind Fury at one of the computers.

"Yeah, then you get your Cube back. No muss, no fuss." Tony said, looking at the large screen in front of him, "What is 'Phase 2'?"

Steve came in suddenly, dropping a massive looking gun on the table across from them, "Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons." He looked at Tony, "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

Piper looked at Fury, her red eyes narrowing in anger and a growl bubbling up her throat.

"Rodgers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract." Fury tried to explain and passive the pissed off super soldier as he walked over to him, "This does not mean that we're making-"

"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony cut in, hopping up the table and turning the computer around to face Steve and Fury, showing the model for a nuclear missile, "What were you lying?

"I was wrong, Director." Steve said, looking at Fury coldly, "The world hasn't changed a bit."

Piper shifted from her cross-legged position on the table into a crouched position, resting on the balls of her bare feet with one hand resting between them for balance. Her gaze flickered briefly as Agent Romanoff and Thor entered the lab before returning to Fury.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Natasha, moving over to the computer screen displaying the missile.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Agent Romanoff asked calmly but tensely.

"Ha, I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed." Bruce said with a humorless smile.

"Loki is manipulating you." Agent Romanoff said and took a step forward, causing Piper to snarl slightly.

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Bruce asked, stepping closer to the computer screen.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha retorted, briefly looking at a Piper whose whole body was coiled tightly and ready to spring at a moment's notice.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce snapped, having moved so he was now in front of the table with the scepter and he grabbed the screen, "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Fury looked at the doctor for a moment then pointed at Thor, "Because of him."

Piper recoiled slightly, not really expecting that. Apparently, neither was Thor because he looked at Fury with a perplexed expression.

"Me?"

Tony gave Fury a disbelieving look as the man started to explain.

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town." Fury stated, moving so he was standing in the middle of the loose circle that had formed, "We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

Piper rocked back onto her heels, eyes still narrowed as they watched Fury carefully her gaze fleetingly landing on an agitated looking Bruce. Natasha was also watching the good doctor.

"My people want nothing but peace with you planet." Thor objected.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Fury demanded, turning to face the god, "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched," He turned to face the others again, his one eye lingering on Piper, "that can't be controlled."

"Like you control the Cube?" Steven snapped.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies." Thor boomed, taking a few steps towards Fury, "It is a signal to all realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Steve questioned.

"You forced our hand." Fury stated obstinately then gestured to the weapon on the table, "We had to come up with something."

"A nuclear deterrent." Tony said nonchalantly from behind Fury, "Because that always calms everything right down."

"Absolutely brilliant idea, Director." Piper growled harshly and rolling her eyes.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark." Fury retorted, turning slightly to look at the billionaire then pointing at Piper, "And you, Lennart, are one of the bigger threats on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s list."

Piper merely snarled animalistcally in response, her pupil beginning to expand.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep-" Steve quipped but Tony cut him off.

"Wait, wait. Hold on." Tony demanded, holding his hand up, "How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked sarcastically.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor growled, shifting on his feet.

"Excuse me," Fury snapped, turning to look at the god, "did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

"You treat you champions with such mistrust." Thor stated harshly.

"You are not my champions." Fury retorted just as harsh.

"Are you boys really that naïve?" Natasha demanded looking at the men, "S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats."

"Captain America's on the threat watch?" Bruce asked in disbelief, his arms crossed.

Natasha looked at him sharply, "We all are."

Piper growled lowly and pinched the bridge of her nose as they continued arguing, their voices blending and rising together, giving Piper a massive headache that throbbed at her temples and between her eyes. There was also a high pitched hum that was steadily blocking out the others' voices and making Piper's ears ring.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor thundered, his voice breaking through the constant hum in Piper's ears.

"That's his M.O., isn't it?" Banner asked, drawing the others attention to him, "Hmm? I mean, what are we, a team?" He shook his head, "No, no, no, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."

"You need to step away." Fury stated firmly, taking a step towards Bruce.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony demanded with exasperation, resting his hand on Steve's shoulder.

"You know damn well why." Steve snapped and knocked Tony's hand away, "Back off!"

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." Tony retorted.

"Yeah. Big man in a suit of armor." The super soldier said, walking a circle around Tony, "Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony responded, looking at Steve mockingly.

"I know guys with none of that are worth ten of you."

"I don't think it counts when those guys are most likely dead." Piper growled lowly, pushing a finger against her temple to try and relieve some of the pressure there but she was ignored.

"I've seen the footage." Steve said, ignoring the feral woman's barb, "The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony retorted.

Steve smirked and looked at the others then back at Tony, "Always a way out. You know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you?" Tony demanded and got right in Steve's face, "You're a laboratory experiment, Rodgers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

Piper shook her head and growled again, digging her claw into her temple hard enough that a small trickle of blood ran down her cheek before the wound closed a moment later. The ringing in her ears was getting worse by the minute, along with a persistent beeping so she didn't hear what Steve said to Tony, but she did hear Thor's booming, mocking laughter.

"You people are so petty," He growled, a spitefully look appearing on his face, "And tiny."

"Yeah, this is a team." Banner muttered in the background and Piper snorted in agreement.

"Agent Romanoff could you escort Dr. Banner back to his-" Fury started but Bruce cut him off.

"Where? You rented my room."

Fury turned to look at him, an exasperated expression on his stern face, "The cell was just in case-"

"In case you needed to kill me." Bruce cut him off again, "But you can't. I know, I tried."

Piper let her hand drop, ignore the blood that was smeared on her cheek and looked at Bruce with a frown.

"I got low. I didn't see an end." The doctor stated, crossing his arms and not making eye contact, "So, I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"

"Dr. Banner…" Fury said, trying to sound calm even as he unlatched his gun.

"Put down the scepter." Steve said quietly, warily.

Bruce looked down at his hand in confusion, the scepter held tightly in his grasp.

"Bruce…" Piper said tensely and reached her clawed hand out to the man but the computer tracking the Tesseract started beeping rapidly, drawing her attention away from him.

"Got it." Bruce muttered, putting the scepter back on the holders in front of Piper then moved over to the computer, "Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."

Piper jumped off the table, walking after him since she wanted to get as far from that glowing stick as possible at the moment.

"You've located the Tesseract?" Thor asked, looking at Bruce as Natasha moved past him to look at the screen as well.

"I can get there faster." Tony said.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard." Thor snapped, "No human is a match for it."

Tony moved to leave the lab but Steve grabbed his arm.

"You're not going alone." The super soldier snapped and Tony glared at him.

"You're gonna stop me?" The billionaire demanded, slapping Steve's hand off his arm/

"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve retorted.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony growled as the two got right in each other's faces.

"Put on the suit."

A soft whine escaped Piper's throat followed by a snarl as the tension in the room began to get to her, her blood rushing through her veins as her bones shifted beneath her skin, which had developed a violet tint.

"Oh, my God." Bruce muttered and looked up from the computer, his brown eyes meeting Piper's red one for moment and then the lab suddenly exploded.

* * *

**Author's Note: Chapter 5 is complete and Chapter 6 is being written as I type this. So we have some backstory on Piper, I hope that it doesn't make her a Mary-sue because she is so not one. If anyone needs some clarification, I'm basically using the agency Colonel William Stryker was part of as the agency that experimented on Piper. That way I have an excuse to write Wolverine and Sabertooth into the story in later chapters. Also, neither Wolverine or Sabertooth is her father, he's just a random feral mutant that doesn't really have anything to do with the story except that he helped create Piper. Annnd, I took some creative license with the whole mutant factoids in Piper's explanation so don't expect that to be accurate. Another thing, this story is going to broken up in to 2 parts; the first part centers around the movie while the second part takes place after the move. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!**

**Special THANK to everyone that faved and/or alerted. You guys rock!**

**SPECIAL MENTIONS!**

**Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape: **Haha, just wait until he has to deal with her during the battle or Manhattan. Hope you like this chapter!

**Lunar Nightshade: **I'll try, that's probably wind up being in the second part of the story though. I'm glad you like Piper, she's a fun character to write. I hope you like this chapter too!

**Geekchic8428: **Hope you like this chapter too!

**Cat of Flames: **Thanks! I hope you like this chapter!

**Justiceintheworldofhp-yearight: **Thanks! Hope you like this chapter too!

**Watergoddesskasey: **Thank you! I hope you like this chapter too!

**PuckForPresident: **Haha, thank you. I'm not really sure why I don't like the Captain, there's just something about him that rubs me the wrong way. Kinda like the way Superman does, I'm not a fan of him either. And I have a thing for the 'bad-boy' good guys and the good guys that tend to be sorta unstable, no idea why. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Mytical-Mist-Devil: **Sorry about that, I thought about having her step in originally but it really didn't seem to work. Plus, I always wondered why no one went to make sure Loki didn't run away in the movies, even if he did want to get captured. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Maddy (Guest): **Thanks! The original title was going to be _Feral Pleasures, _but I changed it at the last minute because I figured that title would be better suited to a Wolverine or Sabertooth OC story. I hope you like this chapter!

**Silver Eyed Slayer: **Hope you like this chapter!

**Marmarloves1D: **Haha, yup and Piper gets a sadistic sense of pleasure because of that. I'm glad you're liking the story so far. I hope the little insight to Piper's past was satisfactory, there will be more on her past in the second part of the story too. I hope you like this chapter too!


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Chapter six! Piper loses the slim control she has and she gets to meet the Hulk. This is gonna be an exciting chapter for sure.**

* * *

Piper gasped in pain as she was thrown through the glass window behind her, along with Bruce and Natasha. She landed on her stomach, her head smacking the ground and knocking her unconscious, she didn't feel the heavy pipe that fell on down after them. The pipe landed on Piper's back and a sickening crack filled the air as her spine snapped like a toothpick. Natasha had landed on her stomach slightly higher up on the grate beside Piper, hitting her head just as Piper had but only falling unconscious for a few seconds. The red haired super spy groaned and shook her head then turned to look at the pipe that was pining her ankle.

"Romanoff?"

Natasha grunted and tried to pull her leg out from under the pipe when Fury's voice came from her earpiece. Giving up for the moment, she touched her ear.

"We're okay." She responded then looked over at Bruce, her green eyes widening when she saw him panting and straining a few feet from her, "We're okay, right?"

"Lennart?" The redhead woman's breath left her in a rush when she caught sight of the still figure trapped under the pipe a half a foot from her, "Piper?"

The pale haired woman didn't respond, her silver-gray hair had come out of its braid in the explosion and was covering her face. Natasha shifted closer to the other woman, keeping her eye on the struggling doctor a few feet from her.

"Piper?" Natasha whispered and reached out to shake the woman then pushed her hair from her face.

Flat red eyes stared back at him and Natasha sucked in a breath then began struggling to unpin her leg from the pipe when she realized that Piper's spin had been broken when the pipe landed on her.

"Damn it." Natasha whispered then looked over at Bruce, "Doctor?"

He groaned, his face pressed into the grate and his fists clenched tightly. Full body tremors wracked his body, his muscles spasming beneath his shirt.

"Bruce?" Natasha tried again, "You got to fight it. This is just what Loki wants."

Bruce got to his hands and knees, panting harshly as Natasha continued to try and calm him down.

"We're going to be okay. Listen to me," The woman pleaded, terror filling her when repairmen appeared asking if they were hurt and Natasha quickly waved them away.

They noticed Bruce and with wide eyes they darted back the way they had come. Natasha noticed something twitch and looked at Piper, her eyes widening again as the pale-haired woman's fingers flexed, curling and uncurling slowly but Natasha was distracted from the miraculous sight when Bruce jerked.

"We're going to be okay. Alright?" She said, still trying to pacify him and keep Bruce from turning into to the Hulk, "I swear on my life, I will get you out of this. You will walk away and never ever-"

"YOU'RE LIFE?" Bruce roared, finally turning his head to look at the incapacitating S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, his voice monstrous.

Natasha watched him with terror-filled eyes as he jerked again, coming to his knees as his back arched and his shirt began to rip as his muscles became larger. She strained to pull her leg out from the under the pipe, shifting it slightly as Bruce shuffled back off the grated platform they had landed on, landing on his hands and knees on the floor below.

"Bruce." Natasha whispered as the doctor looked back at her once before the humanity seemed to face and his lurched to his feet, the change complete.

Natasha gave her leg on last yank, finally pulling it free of the pipe and she got to her feet hurriedly. She took a moment to look at Piper but there was nothing she could do and she limped towards the staircase as quietly as she could. She paused and looked at the Hulk's back, her heart stopping when his head turned slightly and he saw her.

She lurched forward and hurried up the staircase as the Hulk roared and lunged after her. Natasha swung up onto the landing the stairs led to, slipping between the bars easily just as a fully throat, feral scream filled the air—a scream that didn't belong to the Hulk. Natasha didn't stop to wonder where the scream came from, utilizing her impressive agility and flexibility to swing and slither through the pipes in the ceiling of as the Hulk tore at the grates beneath her in an attempt to grab her.

She dropped to the ground and darted away as fast as she could with her injured ankle, the Hulk roaring and storming after her.

* * *

The first thing Piper became aware of was a brilliant, mind blowing, and bloodcurdling pain that had her seeing stars. Then came the familiar feeling of being pinned to the floor and loud feral scream erupted from her throat as she began thrashing violently, heaving herself up onto her hands and knees which tossed the pipe that had snapped her spin like a twig off her.

Her back arched, the vertebrae snapping and popping grotesquely as the pain continued to rip through her body. She screamed again, bowing her head and slamming her hands against the grate she was on, denting and shredding the metal with her elongating claws. The pain reached an almost unbearable level and when Piper threw her head back, a howl escaped her open mouth—her teeth no longer blunt but elongated and sharp.

Piper lurched to her feet unsteadily, tripping off the platform and landing on the hard floor below, another scream escaping her when she landed on her back. Her claws dug into the ground below her as her spine arched on last time before she fell flat, panting harshly as the pain receded. A bestial roar filled Piper's ears and her eyes snapped open—solid black with a glowing red vertical pupil—and the woman rolled to her feet, the claws on her hands and feet shredding the ground as she stood.

Another roar and creature that used to be Piper cocked her head, her lion's mane of silver gray hair spilling over her shoulder. Pivoting on her heel the creature ran towards the source of the roars, claws clicking against the ground as she ran.

* * *

Natasha slumped against the wall, listening to Thor and the Hulk duke it out in the hanger while she tried to get her shaking under control. The sound of someone running reached the woman's ears and she shifted slightly to get a look at who was coming only to gasp and jerk back, pressing herself flat against the wall. The creature paused briefly when she came upon the shivering agent, hellish eyes staring down at her.

Natasha looked up at the monster as her shaking increased and terror filled her heart. The creature snorted once and moved away from the petrified redhead woman, leaping through the hole that Thor and the Hulk had created moments earlier. Natasha swallowed thickly and shut her eyes, trying to calm herself down.

* * *

Thor grabbed his hammer from the floor and leapt onto the Hulk's back, placing Mjolnir's handle against the beast's throat while he gripped the ends. He looked over the Hulk's head and his eyes became wide as he took in the creature crouching not far from them. Silver-gray hair fell in a wild tangled mane down the creature's back, contrasting sharply to the dark gray-violet skin that was stretched tautly over steel-cable muscles. Black claws flexed and lengthened and the creature's blue lips stretched into a tooth-baring snarl, revealing sharp, conical teeth. The only indication of the creature's gender was the small bare breasts that sat high on her chest.

Thor released his hold on the Hulk just as the female creature howled and leapt at them. The god landed on his back with a grunt and he rolled out of the way just as the Hulk was forced to take a step back with the force of the female's momentum when she landed on him.

Thor rolled to his knees, Mjolnir clutched in his hand as he watched the green beast try and dislodge the female creature from his front, the claws of her feet digging into his hips while her fists pounded against his head, her tooth-filled jaws snapping ferociously. Thor shook his head and ran out of the hanger, deciding to leave the creatures to their battle while he went to find his brother.

* * *

With a mighty roar the Hulk leapt into the air, crashing through the ceiling and onto the floor above. The female creature rolled away from him and crouched, snarling and growling rabidly, her conical teeth bared viciously. Hulk lurched to his feet, roaring at the female with his arms spread wide in challenge. She roared back and lunged at him, slashing with her talons and snapping her jaws while the Hulk swung his massive fists at her. Every time he batted her away from him, she came charging back, dealing harsh blows that tore through his thick green skin.

The female had managed to leap onto the Hulk's back, her muscular legs locked tightly around his waist, her claws wrapped around his massive chest while she sank her teeth into his shoulder. The Hulk roared and thrashed about, grabbing at the female with huge hands in an attempt to yank her from his body. After a moment of struggling he succeeded and threw her into a wall. The rage monster was about to barrel after her when a hail of bullets slammed into his back, shattering the glass behind him.

With a roar Hulk whirled around to face the new attack. He took a step back then charged, leaping out the window to land on the jet that had been shooting at him, landing on the nose. He slammed his fist against the nose and climbed it, slipping against the dome before his feet found traction on the metal on either side of the cockpit. The Hulk growled and began tearing at the metal behind the glass dome, only getting distracted from his goal of destroying the jet when a thump reached his ears. The female creature was crouched on the nose of the plane, his green blood smeared across her face and chest. Her claws digging into the metal of the jet keeping her steady as it began to spiral out of control.

Hulk roared at her and she roared back, then lunged at him so she was once again attached to his back, the claws on her feet scratching him. He roared again and but decided to deal with the irritating female after had torn the metal plane apart, snatching the pilot in mid-air after he had tried to eject from the plane.

The female roar in the Hulk's ear and bit his shoulder again, forcing the green rage monster to throw the pilot away from him so he could focus on her instead. He reached behind him and yanked her from his back, holding her in front of him by the back of her neck. Her mouth and sharp teeth were stained with his blood and she thrashed in his grip viciously. The Hulk was about to throw her from him when the jet suddenly exploded, sending both of them flying. The Hulk roared again while the female screamed, her arms and legs latching onto his massive torso as they flew through the air.

* * *

"Sir, we've lost the Hulk along with another creature that appeared out of nowhere. Thor's gone as well."

A muscle in Fury's cheek twitched and he pressed a finger to his ear piece as he watched the medical staff pick up the downed Agent Coulson, "Copy that. Bring Stark and Rodgers to the bridge."

* * *

Fury stood in front of the table, looking down at the Captain America trading cards in his hand, only Stark and Rodgers were sitting at the table.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." Fury said, holding up the cards then tossing them onto the table, "I guess he never did get you to sign them."

Steven reached forward and picked up one of the bloody cards, as Fury continued to speak.

"We're dead in the air up here." He said, "Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner, Lennart, Thor… I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye."

Stark stared at the ground, his back turned slightly to Fury and Steve.

"Maybe I had that coming." Fury stated quietly, resting his hands on the table before straightening and starting to walk around it, "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though because I was playing something even riskier." Fury stopped and rested his hands on the chair that near Steve before continuing to walk, "There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative."

Tony lifted his head and glared out in front of him, looking for all the world as if he was ignoring Fury, even as the director leaned against the chair between Steve and him—the chair that Piper always sat in.

"The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more." Fury said, folding his arms over the top of the chair, "To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could." He straightened and looked down at Stark, "Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes."

Stark lurched to his feet, glancing around for a moment before walking away from the bridge. Fury turned, watching the billionaire leave.

"Well," He said quietly and clasped his hands behind his back, "it's an old-fashioned notion."

* * *

"You two fell out of the sky."

Piper groaned and lifted her head up, blinking rapidly to clear the bleariness from her eyes. Her red eyes focused first on the old man in a security uniform standing at the top of a large pile of rubble then she looked down when she felt something shift beneath her.

"If this is what waking up naked with you is like, I dunno if I wanna do it again." Piper stated tiredly as she looked into the familiar brown eyes of one Dr. Bruce Banner, "Damn, I haven't been in this much fucking pain in forever."

Bruce merely groaned, too tired and sore to even blush at her comment, and Piper rolled off him so he could sit up, spitting dirt and rubble out of his mouth. He groaned again, rubbing his eyes before catching sight of the security guard.

"Did I hurt anybody?" He asked and Piper raised her arm before letting it drop limply on her bare stomach with a mumble 'me' that went mostly ignored.

The security guard gestured with an arm, "There's nobody around here to get hurt. You two did scare the hell out of some pigeons, though."

"Lucky." Bruce muttered, pulling his knees up slightly then rubbing his forehead.

"Or just good aim." The man said, "You were awake when you fell.

Piper looked over at him curiously, "You saw?"

Bruce looked down at her and blushed slightly when he noticed she was completely naked—and didn't seem bothered by that fact at all—before he looked at the man again.

"The whole thing. Right there through the ceiling. Big and green and buck-ass nude with a little naked purple thing attached to its chest." The security guard said, reaching down to grab a pile of clothes that were by his feet which he tossed down to Bruce and Piper, "Here. Didn't think those would fit ya until you shrunk down to a regular-size feller and I wasn't about to get close to the lady since her teeth could take off an arm."

Bruce grabbed one of the pair of pants, holding them out for Piper to take without looking at her then grabbed the other pair. Piper groaned slightly and got to her feet, yanking the pants up her legs. They were too long of course but she didn't really care at the moment.

"Thank you." Bruce said as started to pull the pants on.

"Yeah, thanks." Piper grunted, reaching down and used her claws to turn the pants into a shorts.

"Are you two aliens?" the man asked, watching them get dressed.

Piper snorted and grabbed one of the shirts, her lip curling when she saw it was long-sleeved. Using her claws again, she tore the sleeves off then slipped the shirt on, buttoning it up swiftly.

"What?" Bruce asked, standing so he could pull the pants the rest of the way up then buttoned them.

The security guard gestured to the ceiling, "From outer space, aliens."

"No." Bruce said and looked down, grabbing the other shirt.

"Well, then, you two have got a condition." The man said.

Bruce paused and looked at him then nodded slightly, continuing to get dressed.

"Oh you have no idea." Piper muttered, rolling her shoulders and stretching to relax her tight muscles.

* * *

Tony stared at the empty space where the Hulk's cage used to be, his arms clasped behind his back. He didn't bother to acknowledge the captain when he came in.

"Was he married?" Steve asked, leaning against the rail and crossing his arms.

"No." Tony said without looking away from the hole, "There was cellist, I think."

"I'm sorry." Steve apologized, "He seemed like a good man."

Tony scoffed quietly and looked over at the captain, his hands unclasping, "He was an idiot."

"Why?" Steve demanded, "For believing?"

Tony walked backwards, away from the spot he'd been standing in with his arms swinging slightly at his sides, "For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job."

Tony scoffed, loudly this time and walked towards Steve, "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have…"

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony." Steve said as he walked over to the other man.

"Right," Tony snapped, walking down the short steps that put him on the same ramp that Steve was on as he walked past the super soldier, "I've heard that before."

"Is this the first time you lost a soldier?" Steve asked, turning to face the billionaire.

Tony whirled around, his expression thunderous, "We are not soldiers." He swallowed and didn't look at Steve, "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I." Steve said, "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now, we got to put that behind us and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list-"

"He made it personal." Tony cut Steve off and looked at him after staring at the bloodstain on the wall.

"That's not the point." The super soldier stated firmly.

"That is the point." Tony insisted, his mind whirling, "That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart." Steve said, confused as to where Tony was going with this.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great," Tony said, folding one arm over his chest while gesturing with his other hand, "but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it."

Steve watched as Tony walked past him again, waving his finger at Steve, "He wants an audience. "

"Right." Steve said, "I caught his act in Stuttgart."

"Yeah, that was just the previews." Tony stated, walking back up the short steps then turning to face Steve again, "This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered-"

Realization hit Tony like Thor's hammer, "Son of a bitch."

He hurried out of the room and Steve hurried after him.

* * *

The man led them out of the abandoned warehouse they had crashed into.

"Here. You can use this to get wherever you need to go." The security guard said, gesturing toward a dirt bike.

"Thank you." Bruce said as he walked over to the bike and straddled it, quickly starting the bike and looking at Piper, "Ready?"

"Hell yes." Piper said, a feral smile on her lips as she hopped onto the bike, wrapping her arms around Bruce's waist, "Let's go kick some alien ass."

* * *

**Author's Note: Whoo! This chapter was interesting and fun to write. I hope everyone enjoyed Hulk and Piper's little battle. Next chapter we get to see just what Piper is capable of when she's pissed off and out for blood, specifically a puny god's blood. XD Hope everyone liked this chapter!**

**Special THANKS to everyone that faved and/or alerted! You guys rock!**

**SPECIAL MENTIONS!**

**Nostalgic Child: **I don't think so, but that's okay since you reviewed this chapter. :D I'm glad you think I captured that part of the movie, I can tell you it was kind of a pain in the ass since I watching it while I was writing it and I had to keep pausing/rewinding. Thought I'd go nuts. I don't really think Piper's Mary-sue but I'm a lot warier of her becoming one, since I don't normally write OCs with powers or special abilities. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Lahey: **Haha, thanks, I'm glad that you like Piper and think she's a badass. Yeah, OCs, especially female OCs, shouldn't just be these annoying, whiny, little bitches that every guy is in love with or everyone likes them but they can't get close to anyone because of a 'tragic' past. Ugh, seriously, I model my female OCs after the strong, independent, and totally kickass women I have in my life who don't let things like a bad past keep them from their full potential… Sorry, I'm known to rant about things like that. XD Personality-wise Piper is somewhat based on my older cousin, who is more like an aunt. Well, except for the sadistic part, my cousin is a bit more subtle about that than Piper. Is your WD story about Daryl? If it is I totally have to go check it out, although I'll probably check it out even if it isn't. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape: **Haha, yup! I hope you like this chapter!

**LilaWolken: **Haha, thanks, I'm glad you think Piper fits in well with the team. I hope you like this chapter!

**Cat of Flames: **Sweet, glad you think I explained some of Piper's past well, I was a little iffy on the whole thing for a little bit but then I just went 'what the hell' and rolled with it. Anyhooties, hope you like this chapter!

**SkittleMachine: **Thanks and that's okay. I hope you like this chapter!

**Geekchic8428: **Haha, thanks! I hope you like this chapter too!

**Watergoddesskasey: **:D Hope you like this chapter too!

**Marmarloves1D: **Hehe, yup. That part of the movie is probably one of my favorites because everyone is getting into everyone's faces and it's just hilarious. I'm glad you like Piper and I totally get what you mean about Bruce. I have to say, Mark Ruffalo is probably my favorite Bruce Banner because he just pulls off the shy, nervous, and twitchy doctor perfectly. Haha, you know how during the argument Loki's scepter starts that really annoying hum? Yeah, Piper's hearing is super sensitive and basically the sound the scepter was making is akin to the sound of a dog whistle to her, if that makes sense. And since tempers were escalating in the room and tension was rising, it was starting to affect Piper, making her angry and nervous, similar to an injured/scared animal that's been backed into a corner, and yes it has happened before. I'll be getting into more of her past after she escaped the agency that was experimenting on her in the second part of this chapter. Anyhooties, sorry for the long ass reply, I hope you like this chapter!

**Ryle Culler: **Haha, sorry for the cliffhanger. I hope you like this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Chapter 7 of **_**Paying the Piper, **_**let the battle for Manhattan begin! Enjoy, lovelies!**

* * *

"Sir, I've turned off the arc reactor but the device is already self-sustaining." JARVIS said while Tony hovered near the top of Stark Tower, looking down as Erik Selvig stood in front of the device that would open the portal.

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig." Tony demanded.

"It's too late!" Erik cried out as he turned to look at the Iron Man then looked back at the device, "She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe."

"Okay." Tony muttered sarcastically and shot two blasts from his hands at the device only for a blue force field to appear around the device and repel the blasts back at him, sending him flying a few back and Selvig across the roof.

"The barrier is pure energy." JARVIS said, "It's unbreachable."

"Yeah, I got that." Stark said drily and looked down, to where Loki was standing below him, watching, "Plan B."

"Sir, the Mark 7 is not ready for deployment." JARVIS protested as much as an AI could.

"Then skip the spinning rims." Tony snapped as he touched down on the landing area, "We're on the clock."

As Tony started walking into his Tower, the machines that made up the walkway began taking the suit of his body and Tony watched as Loki walked across the opposite way to get into the tower.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." Loki drawled as he walked into the too.

"Uh, actually, I'm planning to threaten you." Tony stated, hands behind his back as he walked towards the bar.

Loki chuckled, "You should have left your armor on for that."

"Yeah." Tony agreed boredly as he walked down the steps and slipped behind the bar, "It's seen a bit of mileage and you've got the glow stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?"

Loki smirked and looked down at his scepter then back at Stark.

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no. Threatening." Tony corrected as he grabbed the scotch from the shelf, "No drink? Are you sure? I'm having one."

Loki turned and walked towards one of the many windows and looked out over the city of Manhattan, "The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that." He looked back at Tony who was in the middle of placing a cup on the bar top, "What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers." Tony stated nonchalantly as he uncapped the decanter of scotch and glanced up at Loki then started explaining when he saw the god's confused look, "That's what we call ourselves. We're sort of like a team. 'Earth's mightiest heroes' –type thing."

"Yes," Loki said with a mocking smile as he walked closer to the bar, "I've met them."

"Yeah." Tony said with a sardonic chuckle, "It takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that. But let's do a head count, here. You're brother, the demigod,"

Loki scoffed softly and turned away from Tony while the billionaire continued to fix his drink.

"A super soldier, a living legend who kid of lives up to the legend." Tony stated, surreptitiously slipping two bracelets onto his wrist, "A man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a woman who's more animal than human, a couple master assassins, and you big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan." Loki said, smirking proudly.

"Not a great plan." Tony remarked after taking a sip of his scotch then he walked around the bar and towards Loki, "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army." Loki retorted, sounding almost petulant.

"We have a Hulk." Tony retorted instantly, still walking towards Loki.

"I thought the beast had wondered off."

"You're missing the point." Tony snapped, "There is no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. _Maybe_ your army comes and _maybe_ it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure, we'll avenge it."

Tony stopped a few feet from Loki and took a gulp of his scotch. Loki glared at the billionaire and stalked forward like a predator. Tony found he wasn't as intimidated by it than say, if it had been Piper stalking towards him. Now that would have been terrifying because, knowing what Tony knew, Piper would have most likely eaten him.

"How will your friends have time for me," Loki drawled as he walked closer, "When they are so busy fighting you?"

He raised his scepter and touched the glowing tip to Tony's chest, a clinking sound filling the air as the glow dissipated and nothing happened. Loki frowned slightly and did it again only to have the same results as before.

"This usually works." Loki muttered, looking perplexed.

"Well, performance issues, it's not uncommon." Tony replied, "One out of five…"

He grunted when Loki suddenly grabbed him by the jaw and threw him towards the wall of windows.

"JARVIS, anytime now." He muttered, getting to his feet slowly only to grunt again when Loki grabbed his throat and jaw again.

"You will all fall before me." The god growled into the billionaire's ear.

"Deploy!" Tony exclaimed, feeling slightly nervous as the god lifted him and then threw him towards the window, "DEPLOY!"

Tony screamed as he went flying out the window and started freefalling towards the concrete below. He noticed red lights on his arms then the light on the bracelet lit up and suddenly the Mark 7 Iron Man suit was surrounding his body. Tony flipped himself up and started the thrusters on his feet, stopping a couple feet above the concrete then he flew back up towards the broken window, where Loki was looking down.

"And there's one other person you pissed off." Tony growled, "His name was Phil."

Loki raised his scepter but Tony beat him to the punch and shot him with one of the blasts from his palm, sending the god flying backwards. Just then a beam of blue-white light shot up into the sky and a dark blue hole appeared and expanding.

"Right." Tony muttered, watching as the alien army began flying from the portal, "Army."

* * *

Piper looked around the city, taking in the destruction that the alien army led by Loki had caused so far, as Bruce drove the bike down the street to where he had seen the others fighting.

"Well ain't this the shits." She muttered, leaning back and craning her neck back after one of the alien hover things flew overhead.

She felt Bruce chuckle slightly and saw him nod his head in agreement. A fang-bearing smile spread across her face when she saw the Captain, Agent Romanoff, another man, who Piper assumed was the formerly mind-controlled Agent Barton and Thor. Bruce slowed the dirt bike as they approached and Piper hopped off it nimbly while the good doctor leaned the bike against an overturned, slightly flaming car. Steve approached the two quickly with Natasha, Clint, and Thor following after him while Bruce and Piper met them halfway.

"So, this all seems horrible." Bruce said jokingly as he looked around.

"I've seen worse." Natasha remarked blandly, looking at the good doctor and the feral woman warily.

"Sorry." Bruce apologized while Piper snickered quietly.

"No," Natasha commented, "We could use a little worse."

Piper looked around casually, "Ya know, I always thought a zombie apocalypse would come before an alien invasion. Guess I was wrong."

Bruce snorted a slight laugh and grinned at pale haired woman. Piper smirked, one fang peeking out.

"Stark," The captain cut in, using the com-link in his helmet to talk to the billionaire, "We got 'em."

"_Banner?"_ Stark asked.

"Just like you said." Steve replied, "Piper's with him too."

"_Tell them to suit up." _Stark said, _"I'm bringing the party to you."_

Piper turned around and blinked when she saw Tony in his Iron Man suit come flying towards them a giant, metal plated space whale flying after him.

"Oh fuck your mother with a broom." Piper gaped, "It's fucking Moby Dick from space."

"I-I don't see how that's a party." Natasha stuttered, taking a step back while Thor snarled slightly and twirled his hammer around.

Piper gave a whooping laugh, her red eyes bleeding to black as her bones cracked and shifted beneath her darkening skin. Bruce glanced back at the others, brown eyes briefly meeting Piper's solid black ones before he turned back to face the space whale and started walking forward.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said and took a few steps forward, "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That's my secret, Captain." Bruce said as he looked over at the super soldier as he continued walking—the space whale getting closer and closer—he stopped walking and glanced back again, "I'm always angry."

Piper rocked eagerly on the balls of her feet as she watched Bruce turn back to face the space whale, his body morphing into the Hulk as he moved. The Hulk slammed his huge fist into the nose of the space creature, the alien's momentum causing the Hulk's feet to skid across the street while the alien itself began to flip ass over end. Piper threw her head back and a thunderous, feral roar spilled from her mouth—sharp, white, conical teeth exposed—as her bones finished realigning, leaving behind an almost skeletal-like creature with dark gray-violet tinged skin stretched tautly over wiry steel-cable muscles while the bones protruded slightly, elongated fingers tipped with thick, black talons that lengthened and retracted as her fingers flexed slightly. Hellish, solid black eyes with a red, slit pupil looked around predatorily as the female creature snarled aggressively.

"Hold on." Stark said and shot a missile at the space whale.

The captain threw his arm over Natasha as they crouched and held his shield over them. Thor held his arm over his head and Barton kneeled down beside a flipped over car while the creature that used to be Piper Lennart crouched close to the ground when the space whale exploded.

The aliens that had leapt off the space whale screeched in anger from the buildings they were hanging off of.

* * *

Tony lowered himself to the ground and the Avengers formed a circle, standing back-to-back as they looked up at the screeching aliens, Hawkeye loading his bow while Black Widow cocked her gun. The Hulk and Creature—as Stark had affectionately dubbed Piper's more primitive form—roared and snarled right back at the aliens.

"Guys." Natasha said, staring up at the portal with wide green eyes as more space whales poured out of it.

"Call it, Captain." Stark said, for once deferring to the super soldier as the other Avengers turned to look at the portal.

"Alright listen up," Steve commanded, "Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays." Steve turned to look at Tony, "Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

"Can you gimme a lift?" Clint asked, looking over at Tony.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Tony agreed as he walked over to the archer, grabbing his quiver then launching himself into the air.

"Thor," Steve said, grabbing the demigod's attention, "you gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow 'em down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up."

Thor nodded and started swinging his hammer before flying into the air. Steve turned to Creature next, swallowing slightly when his blue eyes met her hellish orbs.

"Creature, kill as many as you can." He commanded and she gave a feral snarl, her teeth bared, and loped down the street, disappearing from sight a moment later.

Steve looked at Natasha, "You and me, we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here. And Hulk…" the super soldier looked at the giant green rage monster, "Smash."

The Hulk bared his teeth in a grin much like Creature's then leapt onto one of the buildings, grabbing an alien that was perched there before launching himself to another building.

* * *

Creature roared as leapt into the air, claws hooking into one of the passing hovercrafts. She snarled and pounced onto one the alien that was on the back, ripping its head right off his shoulders and kicking the second alien off the craft before she leapt onto the alien that was piloting, her talon-tipped hand sinking elbow deep into its back.

The pale-haired mutant jumped off the craft and onto the side of a build, watching as the hovercraft crashed into the ground below her and burst into flames. She roared again before climbing to the top of the building, attacking any alien that happened to be on the building with her. Creature leapt of the building and onto one of the large alien whales, her claws sinking into the metal screeching before she was able to find purchase into the soft flesh under the metal.

With cat-like agility she scaled the beast's side, using the claws on her hands and feet, until she was crouched on the back. Creature snarled and ran along the alien's back until she reached its head, where she swung down and shoved her entire arm into its eye. The alien screeched in pain and shook its head in an attempt to dislodge the female but it only made the pain worse as Creature began digging out the alien's brain matter through the gaping hole its eye used to be in. A hyena-esque cackle escaped her blue-lips and she shoved herself away from the space whale as it began to fall to the ground, dead. Creature flipped through the air and landed on her feet on the street below in the middle of a group of the biped aliens. She spread her arms out wide and roared a challenge then lunged at the nearest one, ripping it in half. The others shot at her, but the wounds healed instantly and only served to piss her off more.

* * *

The Hulk crashed through the already broken glass window of Stark Tower after the God of Mischief, slamming his hands against the ground before lunging forward.

"Enough!" Loki yelled as he stood after being launched into a wall by the Hulk, causing the enormous green rage monster to stop his advance, "You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a god you dull creature! And I will not be bullied by-"

The Hulk snarled and grabbed the irritating god by the ankles, slamming into the ground. He paused and held the man up for a moment then slammed him into the ground a few more times before letting his ankles go, leaving the 'god' in a crater.

"Puny god." The Hulk grunted as he walked away, his attention drawn to the familiar female creature that leapt into the room, her dark gray-violet skin, teeth, and claws splattered liberally with the Chitauri's blue-purple blood.

The Hulk watched as Creature cocked her head and looked down at the prone god then stomped her foot onto the god's chest. She snarled with satisfaction then stalked over to the Hulk, leaping up and perching her smaller body on his broad shoulder. The Hulk snorted and leapt back out the broken window, one hand on the female's muscular thighs.

* * *

Creature and the Hulk landing on the roof of another building, the Hulk slamming two aliens into the roof before kicking another while Creature leapt from his shoulder and tore out the throat of an alien that had come up behind the green beast. The two monsters stood side by side and roared at the dozen or so alien hovercrafts that were facing them. The aliens began shooting at them, the blue blasts not penetrating the Hulk's thick hide while blasts that hit Creature healed instantly. The Hulk snarled and grabbed the female, curling his larger body around her small one as the aliens opened fire on them, a cloud of dirt, dust, and debris billowing around the two monsters.

The Hulk roared and grabbed Creature, tossing her away from the alien firing squad and towards another building. The pale-haired female screeched indignantly and, had she been human, probably would have started cussing the green beast out. Instead, Creature flipped through the air and landed on the building, her claws raking through the brick and mortar as she slowed her descent until she finally stopped then began scaling the building like a monkey.

* * *

"I can close it." Natasha said, pushing Loki's scepter into the barrier that surround the machine the Tesseract was powering it, "Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."

"Do it!" Steve order, hand on the earpiece in his ear.

"No," Stark protested, "wait."

"Stark, these things are still coming." Steve said, sounding confused and distressed.

"I got a nuke coming in." Stark replied, "It's gonna blow in less than a minute."

"And I know just where to put it." Tony said as he flew after the nuke, grabbing it and starting to redirect it towards the portal.

"Stark," Steve said quietly into the com, "you know that's a one-way trip."

Tony didn't respond.

* * *

"Save the rest for the turn, J." Tony said.

"Sir, shall I try Miss Potts?" JARVIS asked, already pulling up Pepper's number.

"Might as well." Tony agreed after a moment as he continued to fly the nuke towards Stark tower.

The billionaire grunted slightly as he pushed the nuke into a somewhat upright position that followed the slope of Stark tower until he reached the top and he flew it straight up towards the portal.

The suit powered down and he let go of the nuke, watching it as it blew up the 'mothership' then he closed his eyes.

* * *

Creature screamed loudly as she watched the man in the metal suit fall from the closing hole in the sky. She knew he should be flying but he wasn't and she screamed again then launched herself off the rooftop she'd been perched on.

Black and red eyes watched as the green beast leapt out of nowhere and got the man in the metal suit, his large hands tearing chunks out of the building he was using to slow his descent to the ground. Creature landed on the ground beside the two blonde men just as the Hulk landed on his back on the street and skidded to a stop, the man in the metal suit in his arms.

The rage monster threw the metal man off him and rolled to his feet. Creature was the first to get to the Iron Man and she shoved him onto his back as the blonde men arrived. The pale-haired feral female ripped the metal mask off and tossed it aside uncaringly as she stared down at the man's face. She knew this man, her more human-half thought he was amusing and didn't consider him prey like other humans were. At least not completely.

Creature growled lowly and sat back on her heels while the man in blue pressed his ear to the metal man's chest then sat back, a sad look on his dirty face.

Creature snarled and slammed her fist onto the metal man's chest, right on the dull white circle that was on the suit just as the Hulk roared in his ear—and consequently, Creature's ear as well since he had been standing behind her. The female snarled and swiped at the green male's leg to express her irritation at being made partially deaf. He ignored her vexation, like a normal male.

Tony gasped, staring wide-eyed at the three faces that were looking down at him as the Hulk roared again, pounding on his large chest.

"What the hell?" Tony demanded, looking around without moving his head or any other part of his body, "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me."

Creature snorted and sat on her ass with a thump, blowing a strand of silver-grey hair from between her hellish colored eyes while one clawed hand rested on the metal chest of Tony's suit, right below the glowing arc reactor. Thor smirked slightly while Steve heaved a breath, looking up at the sky.

"We won." The super soldier breathed out.

Tony sighed, his eyes closing and his head falling back slightly.

"Alright, yay!" he cheered half-heartedly, raising his fist slightly then letting fall back down with a thunk, "Hurray. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day."

He looked over at the Hulk who was standing behind Creature, "Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocked from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

"We're not finished yet." Thor stated, looking towards Stark Tower where Loki was still incapacitated thanks to Hulk.

Steve glanced up at the god and Tony sighed.

"And then shawarma after."

* * *

Loki groaned lowly as he pulled himself out of the body-shaped crater. He pulled himself into a sitting position then froze. The defeated god turned his head slowly and stared at the seven people standing in front of him, an arrow pointed at his face. Loki swallowed thickly as his blue gaze found first the green beast then the pale-haired female demon perched on his shoulder.

"If it's all the same to you," Loki said warily as he shifted to face the Avengers fully, "I'll have that drink now."

The Hulk and Creature growled and snarled in unison at that, their teeth bared. Thor stepped towards his brother, a silver device appearing in his hand which he fitted over his adopted brother's mouth.

* * *

The seven heroes sat around the table in the, surprisingly, mostly intact shawarma joint. Steve sat at one end of the table with his elbow on the tabletop and his face against his fist as he eat his chewed his shawarma slowly, appearing almost asleep. Natasha sat to the captain's right with her chair turned slightly to face Clint, who was sitting beside her with one foot propped up on her chair while he held his food in his lap. The two were taking small bites, occasionally glancing at one another before looking away again.

Tony and Thor sat across from the two master assassins. Thor slightly hunched over his shawarma as he took massive bites then chewed slowly while Tony was leaning back in his chair, eating and watching the others. Piper had pulled a chair over and was sitting in the space between Tony and Bruce—who was sitting at the end of the table opposite to Steve. She and Bruce had since gone back to normal—or as normal as Piper could be and where currently wearing some of Tony's and his girlfriend/personal secretary's clothes respectively, since theirs hadn't made it during and after the battle. Piper was mopping up the rest of her shawarma with her bread, her normally tightly coiled muscles loose and relaxed and her red eyes partially closed. Bruce ate his own shawarma slowly, watching the pale-haired woman beside him out of the corner of his eye. None of them spoke a word the entire time they were there.

* * *

Piper hopped out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. car with Bruce, Natasha, and Clint then leapt over the back of it, landing beside Bruce as the four walked towards the bridge in Central Park where Thor and Loki would use the Tesseract to return to Asgard.

The feral woman and the doctor stopped by Tony who had the Cube in a silver brief case which he quickly opened so Bruce could take the Cube out and place it in the container that would let the two gods returning home.

Piper crossed her arms and gave the muzzled God of Mischief a smug, fang-bearing smile which widened when Loki flinched slightly. The pale haired woman noticed Natasha leaned towards Clint and whisper something that caused the archer to smirk. Bruce came over and stood in between Piper and Tony, and the three watched as Thor held the other handle on the container out to his brother after saying goodbye to his friend, Erik Selvig. The muzzled god grabbed the handle after moment and Thor nodded to his allies in farewell before turning his handle and the two gods disappeared in a flash of blue.

* * *

"You sure you don't want to come to Stark Tower?" Bruce asked, fidgeting with his hands as he looked at Piper who was leaning against the car S.H.I.E.L.D. had provided for her.

Piper gave him a half smile, one fang peeking out, "You asking me to come with you, Doctor?"

The doctor blushed slightly and glanced away from the feral woman then looked back, "If I was, would you?"

"Maybe." Piper replied as a real, genuine smile spread across her face and she straightened, "I dunno if Stark would appreciate my dogs being there though."

"Of course I wouldn't mind, Wild Woman." Tony said as he walked over to the two after saying his goodbyes to the captain and the two master assassins, "If letting your dogs stay means you do, then alright."

Piper cocked an eyebrow an amused smile playing at her blue-tinged lips, "You sure about that?"

"Yeah," Tony said as he bobbed his head then clapped a hand on Bruce's shoulder, "I'll be in the car."

The two watched the playboy saunter over to his sports car and Bruce shook his head slightly then looked back at Piper.

"So you'll come?"

"Sure," Piper agreed after a moment, "After I get my dogs, I'll stop by."

"That's-That's great." Bruce said with a slight smile as he turned to walk towards the sports car.

Piper grabbed his arm quickly then pressed a quick kiss to his cheek when he turned to look back at her curiously.

"See ya soon, Doctor." She said with a smirk before slipping into the driver's seat of the car.

Bruce blinked and waved lamely as the feral woman drove away. The doctor shook his head, a faint blush appearing on his face as he walked over to Tony's car and hopped in.

The billionaire smirked slightly and floored it out of the park, having seen the whole thing.

'_Looks like I get to play matchmaker.' _The billionaire thought gleefully to himself as he drove towards Stark Tower.

* * *

**Author's Note: Gah, so sorry for the late update. I had maybe half of this chapter written and then I forgot what happened during the movie, so I had to go out and rent the damn movie again but I didn't get to watch until today because I had a ton of school work to do. Anyhooties, I hope the battle against the Chitauri was up to everyone expectations! It was certain fun (and a pain) to write. The first part of the story is now finished! Next chapter will be the beginning of the second part, which is going to be completely non-canon. I'm thinking about having Wolverine and the X-men show up at some point but I'm not sure. What are your guys' thoughts? Plus, that's when the actual Bruce/Piper romance stuff will start to happening, so stay tuned for that awesomeness!**

**Special THANKS to everyone that faved and/or alerted! You guys rock!**

**SPECIAL MENTIONS!**

**Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape: **Hehe, that was one of my favorite parts in the whole movie. Next to the 'Puny god' part. Freaking hilarious. Hope you like this chapter!

**Lahey: **Awesome, now I definitely have to check it out. I'd go with the goriest and more disgusting scenario, but that's just me. The more blood and guts, the more I like it. Can you tell I'm a horror movie fan? Haha, I hope the asskicking in this chapter is up to your expectations!

**Ryle Culler: **Haha, yup. Hope you like this chapter too!

**Indigo Scrawl: **S'alright, I completely understand not being able to review because of a hectic schedule. I'm glad you like Piper, she's one of my favorite brain-children and I'm glad you find her positively inspiring for your own characters. That's definitely an ego boost for me. To answer your question, yes, all the mutation business in this story is related to the X-Men world. Haha, funny that you mention Viking berserkers, I'd created an OC character that was originally going to be a descendent of the berserkers but that was before I watched the Avengers movie. After I saw it, I scrapped that idea and viola, Piper the feral mutant/government experiment was born. I'm glad you find my writing interesting. It seems my readers have a lot more faith in it than I do some times, but that's okay because it encourages me to keep writing. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Geekchic8428: **Great! I hope you like this chapter too!

**Watergoddesskasey: **Thanks! Hope you like this chapter too!

**Cat of Flames: **That's great! I'm glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one too!

**xxxRena: **S'alright, hun. I'm glad you like Piper and the story so far. I hope you like this chapter too!

**Marmarloves1D: **Great, I'm glad you liked the last chapter! Haha, the old man is great isn't he? I just watched one of the deleted scenes with him and Bruce and it's great. I hope you like this chapter too!

**Nostalgic Child: **I know right, the bike was a mystery. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**LilaWolken: **Haha, I'm glad you like Piper and the battle scene. I tried to follow the movie as closely as possible while adding a few tweaks here and there. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Maddyson Ruby:** I'm glad you like it so far! I know what you mean about how rare it is to find a food feral character, even in the X-men section! More of Piper's past will be discussed in the second part which will be coming up soon. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**LitteMissMia123: **Haha, glad you like Piper, she's pretty badass if I do say so myself. I hope you like this chapter!

**CallMeKia: **I'm glad you like the story so far and I'm glad it's changing your outlook on Banner, at least a little bit. Haha, to answer your question, yeah, I can't write original stories all that well, plus I suck-ass at poems. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**: **Thanks! I hope you like this chapter too!


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Alright, so here's the first chapter of the second part to **_**Paying the Piper. **_**In case it needs to be clarified, the first 7 chapters are set during the Avengers movie, all the chapters after Chapter 7 will be non-canon and a mishmash of quite a few Marvel worlds, including but not limited to the X-men universe and the possible the Spiderman universe. Also from the second part of the movie is where the romance between Bruce and my OC, Piper, really starts. Enjoy my lovelies.**

* * *

Piper cocked an eyebrow at the two burly men in dark suits and shades that were blocking currently blocking the glass doors the lead into the still being remodeled Stark Tower. Four and a half months had passed since the day Thor and Loki used the Tesseract to return to Asgard at Central Park. Four and a half months since Piper had seen or even spoken to either Tony or Bruce and now that she had finally decided to come and visit Stark Tower like she had promised the good doctor all those weeks ago, she was being denied the opportunity.

Piper adjusted her own aviators and sized the two security guards up. They were both a couple inches over six feet tall with large, bulging muscles that strained against their suit jackets slightly. The buzz cuts and the way they both stood just a little too straight with their legs shoulder-width apart told Piper that they were most likely ex-military, probably in the same unit judging by the way they both responded to each other's subtle cues.

Piper could tear out their throats with her teeth and rip everyone inside the lobby of Stark Tower to shreds in less than five minutes if she had wanted to. Luckily for the security guards and the people in the lobby, she didn't feel like picking flesh out of her teeth or explaining to Tony—or S.H.I.E.L.D. for that matter—that she had killed over a dozen people because they wouldn't let her into the Tower. Stark might take that as a compliment.

But that wasn't going to stop her from informing the security guards of what she could do.

"I could get past you two, I hope you realize that." She stated nonchalantly, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking on her heels.

They didn't move or respond but Piper saw the slightly smirk lift the corner of the security guard on the left's lips ever so slightly. And that was all the incentive she needed.

A predator smile curled the pale haired woman's lips, her fangs showing, and she let her aviators slip down her nose just enough to reveal her stoplight red eyes to the security guards. Their reactions were almost immediate, they hands falling to the guns clipped to their waist, but Piper was already in motion.

With a lightening quick movement she had grasped the security guard on the right's wrist, jerked him towards her and twisted his arm up behind his back hard enough to dislocate his shoulder. Her bare foot came down roughly on the back of the guard's left knee, dislocating it and shattering the bone at the same time. Piper let him fall to the ground and swiped the other security guard's legs out from under him in the same movement, the bullet the guard had fired hitting the sidewalk in a spray of cement while the guard's head cracked against the sidewalk. The feral woman leapt lithely to her feet and lifted the guns from the ground, emptying the clips onto the guards prone bodies then carelessly tossed the guns to the side.

"Told you so." She commented as she walked past they're groaning forms towards the glass doors where everyone in the lobby was staring at her with wide eyes.

Piper gave a sharp whistle and a large English mastiff and Rottweiler leapt out of the bed of the truck Piper had parked in front of the curb then she walked into the lobby of Stark Tower casually, hands tugged into the back pockets of her ratty shorts and massive dogs trotting after her.

"Now," Piper said loudly as she stood in the middle of the lobby and looked around at the stunned faces, "Will someone please tell Tony Stark to get his sorry metal ass down here because Piper Lennart would like to talk to him."

* * *

Tony and Bruce stared in unconcealed awe at the mess that was Stark Tower's lobby.

"Holy shit." Tony muttered as he looked at the groaning and moaning bodies of his security guards that were sprawled out on the hard marble floor, some of their arms and legs bent in unusual ways, while other employees and visitors were cowering against the walls in terror.

And right in the damn middle of it all, crouched on top of the receptionist desk with two massive animals on the floor in front of the desk, was a familiar pale-haired woman flipping boredly through the magazine Tony knew for a fact his receptionist was always reading.

"Uh, Piper?" Bruce called out tentatively as he stepped out of the private elevator and towards the woman, carefully stepping over the unconscious security guards. At least he hoped they were unconscious.

"What the hell did you do to my security, Wild Woman?" Tony demanded as he hurried after Bruce.

Piper tossed the magazine behind her, ignoring the terrified squeak the receptionist hiding under the desk emitted and turned to look at the two approaching men.

"They wouldn't let me in."

"So you decide to attack them?!" Tony gaped, almost stunned speechless by the nonchalant answer.

The feral woman tossed her silver-gray braid over her shoulder then pushed her aviators up into her hair, "I think I showed remarkable restraint. They're still breathing, aren't they?"

Tony just shook his head, but a smile was threatening to break out on his face.

"I don't even know what to say." The billionaire marveled as he looked around the lobby again, "Other than maybe I should call the paramedics."

Bruce coughed into his hand, covering up the chuckle that wanted to escape him.

"It's, um, n-nice to see you again, Piper." The doctor said, fidgeting with his glasses nervously as he avoided looking directly into her red eyes.

"Hmm…" Piper hummed as she hopped off the desk, rubbing the dogs' large heads.

Bruce cleared his throat and gestured lamely towards the stoically sitting Rottweiler and mastiff, "Are those your dogs."

Tony whirled around then and a strangled noise escaped him as he pointed a finger to the massive hounds, "The fuck are those?!"

"My dogs." Piper replied, amusement causing the corner of her lips to curl slightly.

"Those are not dogs." Tony protested, flapping his hand at the Rottweiler and mastiff, "Those are fucking monsters!"

"Told you he would freak out about them." The feral woman said, directing her comment at Bruce who had been watching the exchange with nervous amusement.

"When you said dogs, I thought you meant like a chihuahua or something!" Tony exclaimed, gesturing with his hands animatedly, "Not goddamn Cerberus and-and whatever the hell that one is!"

Piper looked down at her mastiff and the large dog looked up at her, tail starting to wag slightly. Piper returned her gaze to Tony.

"Do I really look like the type to have some kinda of prissy little ankle biter to you?" Piper asked drily, crossing her arms over her chest, "I'm more likely to feed one of those things to Samson and Delilah."

Tony gave her a disbelieving look and Bruce covered up another laugh as a cough. The conversation was interrupted by the sound of sirens sounding from outside.

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose slightly then waved his hand towards the private elevator, "Bruce, why don't you take Wild Woman and her canine monsters up the apartment while I get Pepper to deal with this mess."

Bruce gave Piper a nervous smile and gestured for her to follow him, "This way."

Piper trailed after him, her hands once again shoved into the back pocket of her shorts. Once she and Bruce were standing in the elevator, Piper clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth once and instantly the two massive dogs stood and trotted over to her, sitting down at her feet.

* * *

Bruce cleared his throat and glanced at Piper out of the corner of his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest nervously as he looked back at metal elevator doors.

"S-so, what are their names?"

Piper glanced at him and rocked back on her heels slightly, "The mastiff is Delilah and the Rottweiler is Samson."

"Those are, um, nice names." Bruce said, uncrossing his arms to fidget with his glasses, "Do you, uh, have a place to stay while you're in the city."

"Hmm…" Piper hummed, "Yes, I got a small cabin in upstate New York. It's nice and isolated, my nearest neighbors are 'bout eight miles away."

Bruce's brow furrowed slightly and he turned his head slightly to look at her, "Why would you want to be so isolated?"

Piper smiled but didn't look away from the elevator doors—although it was more of baring of fangs—and she shrugged.

"I don't have to worry 'bout dealing with humans when I want to let my more animalistic side come out and play."

She heard Bruce swallow thickly and her smile became more feral but she still didn't look away from the metal doors. The rest of the ride up the Tony's private apartment was silent. Not even the two massive dogs, Samson and Delilah, made a noise.

* * *

The elevator doors dinged open and Bruce was about to step out when Piper touched his arm. The doctor paused and looked back at the pale haired woman with curious brown eyes.

"You should come out to the cabin sometime." She said with a little shrug as she let her hand drop from his arm and stepped out of the elevator, "I'm sure you haven't cut loose since the alien invasion."

Bruce watched her with wide eyes as she walked around the large living room area of Stark Tower's private apartments, her dogs trailing behind her obediently.

Piper stopped in the middle of the large room and turned to face a still stunned Bruce, her hands clasped behind her back.

"You know it only makes it worse."

"What?" He asked, coming out of his stupor and giving her a nervously confused look as he fidgeted with his glasses.

She balanced on the balls of her feet and stared at him contemplatively for moment then answered, "Suppressing him, the Other Guy. It makes it worse."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bruce stated firmly, avoiding eye contact.

"That's bullshit and you know it." Piper retorted her tone deceptively pleasant, "You're a pressurized canister of pure rage and the more you shove into that canister, the harder it is to keep from exploding from the pressure. Am I right?"

"You make it sound so easy." Bruce snapped tone surprisingly harsh as he actually glared at the feral woman.

"That's because it is easy." Piper replied, watching him with shrewd red eyes as she shrugged lazily, "I've learned that the key to gaining the control is to lose control. You're denying something that's become an integral part of you nature and when you suppress that part of yourself, you become more of danger to those around than if you embraced it. Do you want to know why?" She tilted her head and started walking closer to Bruce, continuing without waiting for his answer, "It becomes harder and harder to control the other side of yourself because it knows that as soon as your more rational—_**human**_—side gains control, it'll be shoved into a small little box and locked away in the deepest recesses of your mind and that primal side of yourself doesn't want that. Doesn't want to be locked away and it's going to fight you even harder to get out again. That's what makes you even more dangerous than if you accepted the Other Guy as a part of yourself. If you let him out on your terms…Well, maybe you could have a somewhat normal life again."

By this point Piper was standing right in front of a tense-looking Bruce, red eyes staring directly into his brown ones. She could see a vague hint of green around his pupils and it made her lips twitch slightly.

"You know I'm right, Dr. Banner." She murmured, gaze never wavering from his as she spoke, "But you're afraid. Afraid that if you do let yourself lose control, if you let the Other Guy out, you're afraid that you'll actually enjoy it."

He swallowed thickly and Piper could hear his heartbeat increase slightly, the spicy scent of his rage permeated his natural earthy and masculine aroma as her words struck a chord with him.

"You don't understand anything." His words came out as a low, throaty growl that sent a thrill down Piper's spine.

"I think," She all but purred as she leaned a little closer to him, their faces only a hair's breathe apart, "that I understand more than you want to admit."

Bruce's jaw clenched tighter and his hands twitched at his sides—whether he wanted to pull her closer or push her away, he wasn't sure. He couldn't seem to look away from her eyes and the more he stared into the predatory red orbs, the harder it was to keep the Other Guy in check. Bruce was saved from having to respond when the elevator dinged as the doors opened and the doctor stepped away from the pale haired woman quickly, taking deep, calming breaths as he did so.

"Did I interrupt something?" Tony asked as he stepped in the large living area of his private apartments and he looked between the two with a quirked brow.

"No." Bruce said quickly, a little too quickly and he cleared his throat, a faint flush appearing on his face.

"Wild Woman?" Tony asked, turning to look at Piper since he knew he wasn't going to get an answer from Bruce.

"Just telling the good doctor that he should learn to lose control every once in a while." Piper stated nonchalantly, rocking back onto her heels and shoving her hands into the pocket of her shorts, "I think he'd enjoy it. He disagrees."

Tony scoffed slightly and threw his hands up, "I've been telling him that for the past four months. It's nice to know at least someone else agrees with me."

"I doubt he'll be listening to either of us anytime soon." Piper gave the billionaire a fang-baring smile, "I'd apologize for creating such a mess of your lobby, but I'm not in the habit of making empty apologies. I should probably be leaving anyway."

Bruce cleared his throat, "Will you, um, be coming back?"

Piper smirked as she stepped into the elevator as it opened, patting her thigh slightly and the two massive hounds trotted in after her.

"I'm sure I can stop by tomorrow." The feral woman drawled, her smirk widening to show one fang, "If that's what you want."

He cleared his throat again and nodded jerkily, "That-that'd be good. Great."

"Bye, Bruce." She said and wiggled her clawed fingers in a little wave, her smirk still firmly in place as the elevator doors slid shut.

* * *

Tony looked away from the elevator doors where Piper Lennart had been standing moments ago then the billionaire turned to look at his best friend, a smirk tugging at his whiskered lips.

'_Looks like the matchmaking is gonna be easier than I thought.' _Tony thought to himself gleefully as he watched Bruce shift uncomfortably under his gaze.

"So what exactly where you two talking about when I walked in?" The billionaire asked with a mischievous grin.

Bruce gave him a look and rolled his eyes, rolling up the sleeves of his button down as he pressed the button for the elevator, ignoring his best friend.

Tony's grin widened and he continued to pester his friend as he followed him into the elevator and pressed the button that would take them down to Bruce's private lab.

* * *

**Author's Note: Oh thank God, I have finally finished this the first chapter of the second part of **_**Paying the Piper. **_**Ugh, it's taking me forever to get this chapter just the way I wanted it and I hope everyone likes it. Small Bruce/Piper interaction there, hope everyone likes it.**

**Special THANKS to everyone that faved and/or alerted! You rock!**

**SPECIAL MENTIONS!**

**Nostalgic Child: **Thanks, I'm glad you liked the last chapter. Sorry it took so long to get this one out. The second part of the story is gonna be part of this story, because having a separate one would just irritate me unnecessarily. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**OzeraBand: **Haha, thanks, I'm glad you think so. I hope you like this chapter!

**DeucesAreWild: **Thanks, it's very likely that the x-men will make an appearance in this story. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape: **Hope you like this chapter!

**Justiceintheworldofhp-yearight: **Haha, glad you think Piper and Bruce are perfect for each other. I hope you like this chapter!

**xxxRena: **Glad you liked the last chapter! I hope you like this one too!

**LilaWolken: **Haha, yup. I hope you like this chapter!

**Cat of Flames: **Thanks! I hope you like this chapter!

**Lahey: **Haha, same here. Hmm… I'd go with an earlier season, I think, that way you have time to, develop is the best word I suppose, the characters and pairings and all that. Haha, I wish I could be distracted by sexy eye candy where I live, but alas the only eye candy I see is in movies… Le sigh… Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Geekchic8428: **Haha, I'm glad you liked that part. It was kinda spur of the moment, oh-hey-this-would-be-cool-in-the-chapter type of thing. XD My favorite line in the movie is either; **'**_**This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered-Sonovabitch.'**_Or _**'Big and green and buck-ass nude.'**_Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Darkspaw25: **I'm glad you like the story so far, don't worry there will be plenty of Creature/Hulk scenes in later chapters. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Jade Bottle: **Haha, I'm sorry. I try not to ask the authors' of some of my favorite stories to read my own stories. It makes me feel like an annoying nag or something. I'm glad you like the story and Piper though, it's a huge compliment especially because I think your story is amazing. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Scarlet tribe: **Hope you like this chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Alright, this chapter is a little slow but I think it turned out okay. Enjoy, lovelies.**

* * *

Piper cocked her head slightly to the left, red eyes focused intently on the herd of deer that were grazing, completely unaware of the danger they were in. It only took a moment to pinpoint which one she would take down—a young buck with an injured back ankle that was slightly on the outskirts of the rest of the herd. She crouched onto all fours, shoulders swaying from side-to-side like a large cat as she stalked towards the unsuspecting buck. Red eyes bleed to black and Piper sprung, landing on the back of the injured buck. The stag called out in surprise and pain as Piper's claws and sharp teeth sank into its neck and the rest of the herd scattered. The pale-haired woman wrestled the struggling animal to the ground, its back legs kicked weakly as it suffocated and bled out on the grassy ground of the clearing.

Once the buck stopped kicking and the soft _thump-thump _of its heartbeat no longer reached Piper's sensitive ears, she released her hold on the stag then rolled to her feet. The feral woman licked the blood from her claws and looked at the fresh corpse on the ground contemplatively, debating whether to drag it back to the cabin to gut it or just do it here. Shrugging, Piper hefted the animal over her shoulder in a fireman's carry and loped in the direction of the cabin.

* * *

The phone was ringing when Piper finally arrived at her two-story cottage, her sensitive hearing picking up the shrill sound when she was a couple yards away. The pale-haired woman slowed to a walk then used one hand to open the front door and walked into the house, her two dogs briefly looking over at her from their spots in front of the fireplace before going back to sleep.

Piper padded into the kitchen and dumped the deer carcass onto the table then walked passed the still ringing phone to the fridge. She grabbed a bottle of beer and popped the cap off with her claws then took a sip, staring at the phone thoughtfully. The phone stopped ringing and Piper took another sip of the beer, stoplight red eyes never leaving the phone hanging from the wall. A moment later the phone began to ring shrilly again.

The pale-haired woman drank the rest of her beer then placed the glass bottle on the counter and plucked the phone from its cradle.

"Talk."

"_Is that how you greet someone over the phone?" _

Piper rolled her eyes as Tony Stark's voice filled her ears. She contemplated hanging up but she was curious and if there was one thing that was Piper's weakness, it was her curiosity.

"What do you want, Stark?" She asked harshly.

"_Well aren't you chipper. What's the matter, Wild Woman, break a claw?"_

"You have five seconds before I hang up and head over there to rip your spine out."

"_Alright, alright." _Tony placated, still sounding amused, _"I'm calling to ask when you're coming over to the Tower."_

"Why?"

Tony was silent on the other end, but Piper could hear the soft tapping of a keyboard and the steady beeping of machinery as well as two muffled voices whispering too low for her to make out. The pale-haired woman scowled slightly and tapped her claws against the plastic device irritated.

"Why Tony?" She asked again, her voice a throaty growl of irritation.

"_Chill out, Beast-Girl, there's something Banner and I want your input on."_

Now that piqued Piper's interest and she folded her free arm over her chest, tapping her claws against her bicep.

"What?"

"_Well, you'll have to come to the Tower to find out."_

Piper rolled her eyes again, she could practically feel the smirk that was no doubt on his face.

"Fine. I'll be there in a few hours." She grunted then hung up the phone without waiting for the billionaire to reply.

The pale-haired woman crossed her arms and stared at the dead stag on her kitchen table contemplatively, her lips pursed slightly as she debated what to do with it. Finally, she shrugged and grabbed her meat cleaver from the knife drawer then went to work on the carcass.

* * *

A few hours later found Piper once again standing in front of Stark Tower in downtown Manhattan. She stared up at the large building, taking a minute to observe the progress that had been made in the past four and a half months since Loki's attempted takeover. The remodeling appeared to be coming along nicely, even if it did look as if Stark had decided to keep the giant 'A' at the top of the building.

Shaking her head in amusement, Piper sauntered into the lobby and smirked when she saw the receptionist's eyes get huge and her face drained of all color. The bleach blonde woman squeaked quietly as Piper walked past her, towards the private elevator she had taken with Bruce the other day. Her smirk widened when the security guards standing on either side of the elevator tensed slightly but didn't stop her as she stepped into the metal lift and pressed the button for Tony's private apartments.

Turned around, the pale-haired woman caught the receptionist's eye and smiled predatorily, flashing her fangs. The other woman's face became even whiter than her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fainted, the security guards rushing over to her. Piper barked a laugh as the elevator doors closed on the scene, a feel of satisfaction filling her as the elevator took her up to the apartment area.

"Good afternoon, Miss Lennart."

Piper started slightly at the vaguely computerized British voice then she scowled and retracted her claws that had instinctively lengthened.

"You must be Stark's AI, JARVIS." She stated, irritation fading slightly as curiosity took over as the elevator stalled for a moment then began to descend instead of ascend.

"Yes, madam, Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner are in the doctor's personal lab in the basement. I've taken the liberty of sending the elevator down there as well as informing them of your arrival."

"Do you know why Stark and Bruce wanted to talk to me about?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss Lennart." The AI responded calmly.

Piper grunted, she had figured as much but it didn't hurt to ask. She wasn't overly fond of surprises. The elevator came to a slow stop and the metal doors opened with a soft ding, revealing an almost completely empty lab filled with computers and numerous other machines. She cocked a pale brow and stepped out of the elevator, following the sound of voices towards the back of the lab.

* * *

"Mr. Stark, Miss Lennart has arrived."

"Thanks, JARVIS." Tony said, giving Bruce a wide grin then hurrying towards the front of the lab.

He smirked slightly when he saw Piper looking around the lab curiously, her back to him. The billionaire softened his steps as he snuck behind her, hoping to scare her. His plan backfired when Piper grabbed the hand that he'd placed on her shoulder and flipped him over her shoulder. Tony gave an unmanly and loud yelp as he went flying.

"Oof." The philanthropist groaned when his back made contact with the hard floor of the lab.

"Tony?" Bruce called out, appearing from around the same corner Tony had come from, his glasses in his hand, "Pip-What happened?"

Piper scowled down at Tony, her lips drawn back in an irritated snarl.

"Do you have a damn death wish, Stark?" She demanded with a growl, "Or are you just that idiotic?"

Tony merely groaned in response, opening his eyes so that they were slits.

"You threw me into the floor!" He accused with another pained—and over dramatic—groan.

Piper snorted and rolled her eyes, "You're lucky I didn't break your spine, dumbass. What made you think it would be a good idea to try and scare me?"

Bruce shuffled forward and helped Tony to his feet, his lips quirked in amusement.

"You tried to scare her?" The doctor asked with well hidden amusement as he steadied the swaying billionaire

"I didn't expect her to go all Karate Kid on me or something on me." Tony grunted, one hand on his lower back as he arched slightly, "God, I'm going to go get a drink and maybe an icepack."

Piper and Bruce watched as Tony shuffled towards the private elevator, hand still on his lower back and mumbling about crazy mutant women with ninja skills.

"Ah, right." Bruce muttered then cleared his throat, gesturing towards the area of the private lab he and Tony had been working in, "Um, this way…"

Piper smirked slightly and trailed after the doctor, keeping her hands clasped behind her back.

* * *

Bruce fidgeted with his glasses as he watched Piper look at the handheld tablet computer he'd passed her. She was too busy reading over the files and notes on the tablet to really pay attention to him, so he was free to observe her without worry of her catching him.

The doctor took in her outfit of choice—a threadbare tank top, ragged shorts that barely left anything to the imagination and no shoes. Bruce could tell just from looking at her that she was pure, tightly coiled muscle. He doubted there was an ounce of fat on her body, which would explain why she looked emaciated at first glance, the musculature taking place where fatty usually was. Because of the lack of fatty tissue her breasts were small and high on her chest, Bruce blushed slightly and he glanced away from her chest quickly. There weren't any scars or other blemishes that Bruce could see, something he attributed to the healing mutation she said she had.

He moved his gaze towards her face which was set in a thoughtful frown as she looked at the tablet. She had high, prominent cheekbones, her stoplight red eyes were cat-like and almond-shaped while her nose was small and straight. Bruce glanced at her mouth, taking in the blue tint, cupid's bow of her upper lip and the way her bottom lip was fuller than the upper one. Her pale silver-gray hair was pulled back in the customary plait Piper kept it in.

"You do realize a photograph would last longer, Dr. Banner."

Bruce started slightly, a blush burning his cheeks as he quickly looked away from her and cleared his throat. He fidgeted with his glasses then tucked them into his jacket pocket and crossed his arms. Piper looked up at him with an amused smile playing at her blue-tinged lips.

"S-so what did you, uh, finish?" Bruce asked, avoiding eye contact with her.

The pale-haired woman carefully placed the tablet on the table she was leaning against then crossed her arms over her chest and turned to face Bruce.

"You and Tony Stark want to take some of my blood and study it, am I correct?" She asked coolly, watching as he fidgeted uncomfortably under her gaze.

"Um, y-yeah, pretty much." He said quietly, looking to the side then met her eyes head on, "We don't want to turn you into an experiment or anything but-"

"But you two are curious about the difference between a normal human like Tony, a super-mutant like myself, and a you, the former human turned mutant through gamma radiation exposure."

Bruce blinked then nodded slowly, "Yes, that's pretty much it."

Piper tapped her claws against her bicep and looked at him for moment, feeling a small sense of satisfaction when he squirmed slightly.

"Alright." She agreed after she'd let him squirm for a few minutes.

"What?"

The pale-haired woman rolled her eyes at his startled expression, but there was a small smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

"I said alright." She stated again as she held her arm out to him.

Piper gave an exasperated huff and rolled her eyes when all he did was stare at her.

"I'm about ten seconds away from hurting you, Doc." She drawled with vague irritation, "And I really doubt the Other Guy would like that very much."

That seemed to snap Bruce out of his stupor and he quickly shook his head.

"Um, y-yeah, right. You're right." He mumbled then gestured for her to follow him deeper into the back of the lab, "Um, this way."

The feral woman smiled slowly, watching him walk away for a moment before pushing away from the table and following after him.

* * *

Blue eyes watched the low quality video with interest, observing the roaring and snarling female with the gray-violet and pale gray hair that swirled around her wiry muscled body like a lion's mane. The camera zoomed in on the snarling feral female's face, getting a close-up of her solid black eyes with their glowing red slit pupils flashing with animalistic bloodlust and rage. Her mouth and sharp teeth were stained with the blood of the alien invaders that littered the ground around her, their throats torn out. The strange alien blood was also splattered generously on her mostly bare body.

"I've never seen anything like it.' A young mocha-skinned woman with snow white hair said quietly, her dark eyes riveted to the screen the video was playing on, "What should we do, Professor?"

A balding man in his mid-sixties paused the poor quality video and steepled his fingers, resting them against his mouth as he looked at his former students and comrades, taking in their expectant, wary, or uncaring expressions.

"I would like you, Ororo, to take the team to the city and find this young woman and try to persuade her to come here to the mansion."

"What if she don't want to come?"

The professor smiled slightly as he looked over at the gruff looking man that had spoken.

"I'm sure she will be more than willing. You'll just have to persuade her."

The gruff man grunted and crossed his arms over his broad chest but didn't bother to say anything else as the professor dismissed everyone from his office. Once his former students and comrades had left the office, Professor Charles Xavier leaned back in his wheelchair and started the video of the female creature again, ignoring the camera-man's commentary as he watched the female tear into the alien invaders.

"Where have you been hiding, my dear?" The professor murmured, tapping his fingers lightly against the arms of his chair.

* * *

**Author's Note: Alright, kinda slow chapter, but I hope everyone likes it. More Bruce/Piper interactions next chapter along with Piper/Tony banter and insults, though I'm not sure when I'll be able to post the next chapter for any of my stories at the moment, school is kicking my ass. **

**PS— Points and virtual cookies to whoever can guess what animal Piper's beast is, like Sabertooth is a sabertooth and Wolverine is wolverine. There are hints throughout the previous chapters. Happy guessing, the answer will be revealed in either the next chapter or the chapter after that one!**

**Special THANKS to everyone that faved and/or alerted!**

**SPECIAL MENTIONS!**

**Mira SeverusSirius Black-Snape:** Thanks! I hope you like this chapter!

**Geekchic8428: **Haha, I'll have to find some pictures that I can put on my profile. Samson is actually based on my old female Rottweiler's sire, Samson. He was supposed to be a huge as dog, he could put his paws on my dad's shoulders when he stood on his hind legs (my dad is 5'10") so that boy was a beast. Anyhooties, mini-rant over, I hope you like this chapter!

**LilaWolken:** I'm glad you liked the last chapter! And I'm glad you like Piper too, she's a bunch of fun to write. I hope you like this chapter!

**Watergoddesskasey: **I hope you like this chapter!

**Justiceintheworldofhp-yearight: **Haha, I'm glad you liked the dogs, Piper's smartassery, and the last chapter! I hope you like this chapter too!

**xxxRena (Guest): **Me either, I think those are probably my favorite scenes to write so far, second to Bruce/Piper scenes. Anyhooties, I hope you like this chapter!

**Nostalgic Child: **Haha, I'm glad you like the story so far. I hope you like this chapter too!

**Cat of Flames: **Thank you, I hope you like this chapter!

**Thegirlwholived (Guest): **Haha, I'm glad you liked the last chapter. I'm glad you think Piper is not a Mary-Sue. I hope you like this chapter!

**Carly Carnations: **Haha, that will be revealed in either the next chapter or the one after it. I'm glad you like my stories and I hope you like this chapter!


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